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After three years, Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) have raised fees, this time by Rs 40,000.
The IIT Council meeting on Monday, presided by Minister of Human of Resource Development M.M. Pallam Raju, decided to hike the annual fees to Rs 90,000 for 2013-14, up from Rs 50,000. However, education at IITs will remain free for students from the Scheduled Caste and Tribes.
Self-sustainable
The move was seen necessary for the IITs to become self-sustainable like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). The fee structure for the premier institutes will now be reviewed every year.
The IITs have started to receive research grants from the industry, which is helping the institutes garner more funds and is also seen as beneficial for the industry. It is estimated that only 20 per cent of the IITs’ funds is generated from student fees, while the rest is financed by the Government. Recurring cost on each student at IIT is about Rs 2.5 lakh a year, while the student pays Rs 50,000.
It was also decided at the meeting that 25 per cent of the students from economically backward segment (where parental income is less than Rs 4.5 lakh per annum) would be provided with 100 per cent scholarships.
Further, it was decided to not only make IITs more research-oriented but also include external peer review for quality improvement. The other key decisions taken by the Council include increasing the number of doctoral students, enhancing teacher capacity and developing strong industry-academia linkages.
Annual review
Raju said that it was felt that IITs need to review themselves every five years, for the purpose of which a committee, comprising five eminent academics and five from the industry would be appointed.
Besides an internal review, the committee will put the 16 IITs up for peer review from across the world.
“This will help IITs assess where they stand and in which areas they need to improve,” Raju said.
Like IITs, all Central Universities and IIMs have also agreed to periodic external peer review and are working on the model to be adopted.
Further, the Council has decided to take steps boost the number of doctoral students, from 3,000 currently, up to 10,000 by 2020. Raju informed that the Council has decided to create a framework by which students will be able to pursue doctoral studies at IIT without giving the GATE exam, if they fall in their marks fall in the top percentile.
Faculty shortage
IITs, like other technical institutes, suffers from severe teacher shortage and it has been decided that to boost the number of teachers and to make academics attractive, top students from National Institutes of Technology (NITs) would be invited to the IITs to train to be faculty.
These students, who would have to fall in the top 15 per cent bracket, would also get the opportunity to do Masters and doctorate alongside the training.
Further, IITs will also include green technology-related courses in the curriculum, implement programmes to cut carbon footprint, and also carry out regular green audit.
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