IITs are going to be increased student intake from next academic year 

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will implement a 5% increase in their total student intake from the next academic session. 

The decision to increase the number of students -from 10,572 in the current academic session to 11,100 the next year -was taken at a recent meeting of the Joint Admission Board (JAB), which is the highest decision-making body of IITJEE (adanced). The meeting was attended by the chairpersons of all IITs. 

While this increased number was to be absorbed by all 23 IITs, several of the older institutes said they wouldn't be able to immediately increase their intake with their current infrastructure. The country's premier engineering and tech scho ols have also decided to admit 10% more foreign students, over and above the total student strength. 

“We are in no position to admit extra students despite the government wanting each IIT to increase intake,“ said a senior IIT-Kharagpur official. 

“Even if we build accommodation, classrooms and other infrastructure from government funding, it takes many years to build world-class laboratories which offer state-of-the-art facilities,“

Though the Indian higher education institutions fail to make a mark at the world rankings, the IITs remain one of the few bright spots on the Indian higher education scene. It is the institute’s ability to adapt to the changing times that has ensured that it retains its top billing. Now in the latest such change, the HRD (Human Resource Development) ministry has decided to allow non- resident students in the IITs – a move high opposed by the IIT insiders.

The insiders believe that having day scholars as under graduate students at the IITs would change the complete character of the institutes. One of the major reasons behind this drastic move is the ministry’s endeavour to increase the strength of the IITs to 1 lakh students by the year 2020.

About this decision by the ministry, one of the Directors of the IIT said, "IIT is also about the larger environment of free debate and liberal atmosphere. Moreover, our undergraduate courses are most sought after.” He said that he won’t mind having day scholars at the postgraduate and doctorate levels.

Lack of enthusiasm towards this latest move by the HRD is common across all the IITs. In the battle between the institutes and the ministry, only the time would determine the eventual winner. One can only hope that whatever be the outcome, the students benefit from it.