IIT, NIT students can hope to skip GATE
In an effort to bridge the increasing research gap between India and China, the UPA government may exempt postgraduate students at the IITs and other centrally funded technical institutions (CFTIs) from taking the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) for joining PhD programmes. Most of the PhD programs offered by NITs, IITs and other central science schools currently consider GATE scores for admission.
The plan is slated to be discussed on November 5, 2012 at IIT Bombay by the Standing Committee of the IIT Council (SCIC). SCIC is the top decision making body of the IITs.
The Kakodkar panel set up under the former atomic energy czar Anil Kakodkar, comprising a team of top scientists, aims to increase India’s annual science and engineering PhD output from about 9000 at present to 40,000 by 2025. The IITs contribute about 1000 of the current PhDs each year. China already produces about 50,000 PhDs in science and engineering each year.
Some facts and figures:
- Over the last 12 years, China has surged ahead of India with almost a four-fold increase in its science research
- Globally, China today provides almost 12% of the world’s research publications in science and engineering, while Indian research makes for around 3%
- India is trailing behind the developed world in both quantity and quality of science and engineering research
- US still remains the undoubted leader contributing about 30% of the world’s science and engineering research
Other intereting reads:
All About Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE)
2012 pass-outs with 60% can take JEE 2013
