Will IIT Council overpower Senate's decision?
The revolt of IIT Kanpur and its decision to conduct its own exam has given way to murmurs about IIT Delhi and Bombay looking to join the bandwagon. Hence, the HRD Ministry has finally decided to chuck out its wait-and-watch policy and is actively examining the legal rights and powers of IIT senates.
According to the HRD Ministry, it is the IIT Council and not IIT Senates that hold the power to set the admission standards and take decisions on other academic matters related to the institutes. The announcement of IIT Kanpur to conduct its own entrance exam will need to be cleared by its Board of Governors under section 13 of the IIT Act. While Section 15 of the IIT Act does empower IIT Senates to maintain the instruction, education, and examination standards of the institute but setting admission standards is the exclusive domain of the IIT Council. Read more
The IIT Council is headed by the HRD Minister Kapil Sibal. IIT Delhi Alumni Association and All India IIT Faculty Federation, opposing new JEE, have sought a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the matter.
IITs must rethink admission strategy
On one hand, IITs and the HRD Ministry is embroiled in a fight over sanctity of new JEE and the right of IITs to choose their candidates. On the other, academic experts are pointing out a new way to develop IITs into global research universities. See details
These experts say IIT JEE has failed to filter out students genuinely interested in path-breaking engineering work. IIT JEE sorts out students who are good at mathematics and sciences. But it does not test whether these students are genuinely interested in engineering or not.
Time has proved that some of the students just want an ‘IIT’ stamp knowing fully well that they are not cut-out for an engineering career. They join IITs because of lack of reputed institutions in disciplines of their choice or because of parental pressure. Others lack the right aptitude to be an engineer and hate quantitative and laboratory work that is part of their curriculum.
The mandatory academic excellence in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics pushes students to straitjacket coaching classes that leaves innovative and curious candidates out of the lot.
The Shangai Rankings 2011, that lists top 500 world class universities based on their research output every year, includes only three institutions from India – IISc (in Top 300 to 400), IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur (in Top 400 to 500). On the other hand, China has as many as 35 institutions on the list. In the Top 100 engineering institutions, only IISc from India has made it to the list, whereas eight institutions from China have achieved the feat.
Whether we follow IIT JEE or the new JEE, only few students at the top get a chance to succeed. China’s education system won admirers as Shanghai made it to the top of international education rankings for schools in Pisa 2009 tests conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This programme for international student assessment (PISA) tests 15-year-olds students’ literacy in reading, mathematics and science. The programme expects all students to make the grade and push the entire cohort to success. Know more about Pisa
To evolve IITs into multidisciplinary research universities that can compete at the global level, the need of the hour is to expand the terms of the debate and arrive at a system that is in the best interests of the students and society at large.
Other interesting reads:
- IIT-D extension campus @ Sonepat
- IIT-JEE Topper ranks 9th in AIEEE
