Too Many IITs, Unrealistic Expectations

Context: Time to rethink the changing role and the mandate of the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) in order to ensure that quality and focus continue.

General features of IITs:

• Aim: Self-consciously elite institutions aiming at the highest international academic standards.
• Fund: Provided by the central government.
• Focus: Provides undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in Technology, Engineering, Humanities and Social sciences.
  • National Education Policy, 2020 emphasised that the IITs should focus more on “holistic and multidisciplinary education”.
• IITs are not universities:
  • According to data available with the Council of Indian Institutes of Technology, the IITs are small institutions with average student enrolments in the older IITs (e.g. IIT Delhi) of around 10,000. 

Significance of IITs

• Provides high quality: Graduates, faculties and academic programmes.
  • Most faculties have doctorates from the most respected western universities.
• Contributes to research and innovation.
• Represents India In global rankings: IITs are among the few Indian higher education institutions that do reasonably well in the global rankings.
• Low dropout rates: dropout rates at the IITs are infinitesimal and declining, from 2.25% in 2015-16 to 0.68% in 2019-20.

Problems associated with IITs

• In danger of sinking into mediocrity: Due to expansion beyond its capacity to maintain high standards.
  • E.g. recent decision of the University Grants Commission to permit select IITs under the ‘Institutions of Eminence’ category to set up campuses abroad.
  • Rise in the number of IITs. E.g. new IITs are located in smaller towns such as Mandi (Himachal Pradesh), Palakkad (Kerala), Dharwad (Karnataka) etc.
• Severe shortage of professors: E.g. IIT Dhanbad is approved to hire 781 instructors, but only 301 positions were filled as of January 2021.
• Low salary to faculties: Thus, many were lured to universities and industry in other countries.
• Lack of correlation between the local needs: They have become ‘academic enclaves’ because of -
  • Lack of utilisation by the State governments: through knowledge sharing networks involving universities, colleges and schools, and local industries and firms. 
  • Lack of enough community outreach programmes.

Way forward: To ensure the continuity of quality and focus of IITs.

• Limited “IIT system”: Reduce the number of IITs to 10 or 12 by renaming newly established institutes.
  • These IITs shall be funded at “world-class” levels and staffed by “world-class” faculty.
• Pay attention to internationalisation
  • By in-depth collaboration with the best global universities: In lines of IIT Bombay-Monash Research Academy and University of Queensland-IIT Delhi Academy of Research (UQIDAR).
  • Attract foreign faculties:  Recent decision to liberalise the recruitment rules is a good step.
  • Attract international students: By creating robust policies.
• Provide adequate and sustained funding: both from government and from the philanthropy of tremendously successful IIT graduates.