In the coming years, the IIT palette will have on offer a range of shades beyond the cut-and-dry coding courses. A bunch of doctors, historians, perhaps policy makers too, could boast of IIT degrees.
… the XIth five-year committee for higher education is working with these centres of excellence to expand their charts. The committee, headed by educationist Yash Pal, that is meeting IIT heads on Friday will discuss how the tech schools can change their character and, like American universities, enlarge their menu.
"Currently, the IITs are premier undergraduate engineering schools doing some postgraduation and research work. Now, we want to give them a bigger role," Yash Pal told TOI. The noted scientist said that he had discussed his suggestions with some IIT directors and that a clearer picture would emerge after this week’s meeting.
While the IITs will be given more oxygen in terms of starting courses of their choice, it’s difficult to predict whether the new subjects offered will compare in excellence with the engineering departments, or be relegated to the sidelines, like the IITs’ management schools. However, Yash Pal said, "All great universities around the world offer a range of undergraduate courses. Our IITs can’t be great unless they think in that direction."
The committee is looking at the Big Daddy of engineering colleges for inspiration. "If MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) or Caltech (California Institute of Technology) can offer a wider range of programmes that are well-known, why not the IITs? Our IITs have produced wonderful engineers for the country. It’s time they looked at offering more," he added.
Former Indian Institute of Science director Govardhan Mehta, who’s also on the committee, said that the country was currently at a stage where an institute running one programme was also being termed a university. "However, a university, as defined in the ninth century, is an institution with a confluence of many disciplines where research and teaching are carried out. While expansion of courses in the IITs is what our committee is thinking of, Friday’s meeting will give us a chance to know what’s in the IIT heads’ minds," he said.
… IIT-Guwahati director Gautam Barua said, "There has been some suggestion that the IITs start programmes in areas other than science and technology. I do not have a problem with doing that if our focus is clearly defined."
… Educationist and former director of IIT-Chennai P V Indiresan, who has spent a large part of his life in the IIT system, said the institutes had been synonymous with excellence and they must not start any programmes unless they got very good faculty for the same.
How the IITs will rise to the challenge remains to be seen. What’s certain, however, is that the flow charts on their lush campuses are set to be redrawn.
