www.expressindia.com - Weather | Horoscope | Stocks | RSS
expressindia web city
HomeBlogsCricketAstrologyShopping TendersClassifieds Opinions Hotels
Sign In / Register | Archive
Expressindia » Story

‘New technology institutes planned by govt needn’t be called IITs’

Font Size

Mihika Basu

Posted: Jan 16, 2008 at 2329 hrs IST

Mumbai, January 15 While the government wants to establish new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and world-class universities to improve standards of higher education, a debate is raging over whether the new institutes should be called IITs.

While debating the limit till which IIT-B can increase its students’ intake, IIT-Bombay director Ashok Misra said: “I am not in favour of more IITs that the government is thinking of. While we require quality institutes to accommodate the growing number of students, merely increasing the numbers and calling them IITs may not solve the problem. One has to ensure the brand name and quality is not diluted.”

He said instead the existing IITs could help mentor and incubate the new institutes so that they reach a level of excellence. “We have worked hard to attain this status of excellence. So why call the new ones IITs?” he questioned.

Enhancing the quality of existing colleges in the country could also be explored, said Misra.

Both Misra and IIT Kharagpur Director D Acharya said that it took 10-15 years to build a good brand name and establish an institute. The biggest challenge for the IITs today is attracting the best faculty to maintain the standards of excellence and getting the best faculty would get even tougher for the new IITs, they said.

The issue, emphasised Acharya, was that one needed to provide quality education to a large number of students. “And augmenting and strengthening the capacity of the existing IITs is a much better option. For instance, IIT Kharagpur has enough land to facilitate a significant increase in enrolment. The only issue is where do we get good teachers from?” said Acharya.

Misra said setting up second campuses could also be a viable model since the existing IITs already have an established curriculum, governance and good faculty, among others.

IIT-Kanpur Director S G Dhande said that considering that among the 300,000 students who appear for the entrance test, only 5,000 are selected, additional provisions are required to absorb the talent in the country and that he is not opposed to new IITs. “It’s the scientific advisory council to the Prime Minister which has recommended establishment of more IITs. The council must have looked at the pros and cons. There will be problems, but if one goes ahead with the plans, one has to ensure that all commitments are met,” he said.

Agreeing that good institutes are required to meet the aspirations of students and that such institutes should be well funded, IIT-Delhi Director S Prasad, however, said, “We will be happier if the new institutes are called something else.”

mihika.basu@expressindia.com

Discuss this story on expressindia forums
Post Comments
Name* Email ID*
Subject* Country*
Message*
Characters remaining
 
TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).
I agree to the terms of use.

Latest News

Business

Showbiz

Sports

Maharashtra House suspends four MNS MLAs for 4 years

Abu Azmi slapped by MNS MLA for taking oath in Hindi

Cabinet ministers spent Rs 300 cr on travels in last 3 yrs

Dalai Lama visiting Arunachal on his own: Tharoor

Headley stayed in south Mumbai hotel: Police

Do not visualise a conflict on border dispute with China: Pranab

Fatwa against 'Vande Mataram' cannot be withdrawn: Darul Uloom

More
Featured Services
© 2009 The Indian Express Limited. All rights reserved
The Indian Express Group | Advertise With Us | Privacy Policy | Feedback | Work With Us | Site Map