'Weak students to exit IIT in 3 years with BSc in engg'

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) is holding IIT Council meeting on Friday where they are going to pitch the proposal that may permit academically weak students to exit after three years with a B.Sc degree in engineering, according to a report by The Indian Express.

The highest decision-making body, comprising 23 institutes, is headed by the Human Resource Development Minister.

As of now, students enrolled in undergraduate programmes across all IITs are awarded a B.Tech degree after completing eight semesters or four years and students with weak grades drop out midway.

Around 2,461 students dropped out of different IITs in the last two years across B.tech and post-graduate programmes, according to data shared by the HRD Ministry in Parliament this year. This year, IIT-Kanpur expelled 18 students on the grounds of poor grades out of which half of them were from B.Tech department.

According to the Council agenda, the IITs have been asked to approve the proposal to allow academically weak students to opt for B.Sc (Engineering) after the second semester and leave after three years, provided they have met the minimum academic standards.

The implementation of the suggestion is going to take place from this academical year itself if it gets approves, source told the newspaper.

Around 9 lakh students take each cycle of the JEE (main) and around 13,500 out of them get an IIT seat.

To empower the Board of Governors of an IIT to pick its members and chairperson, the Council will consider a proposal. Presently, the HRD Ministry appoints them.

This autonomy is on the lines of what has been granted to the IIMs under the new IIM Act. IIT directors, according to the agenda, will continue to be selected by the government. However, apart from the IIT Council’s approval, the IIT Act will also have to be amended to finally empower the IITs.

The meeting agenda also proposes a new model of financial autonomy for the IITs, in which the institutes will charge tuition fees based on actual costs (roughly Rs 7 lakh per year) from the students.

The government, on the other hand, will provide financial help directly to the students through scholarships or “in any other manner as it deems fit”. The government will provide financial help directly to the students through scholarships or “in any other manner as it deems fit" and this will replace the block grants that the IITs receive from the government and, therefore, give them the freedom from government restrictions on how to use their financial resources.

Apparently, IIT students pay only Rs 2 lakh per annum as tuition fee. Moreover, almost half of the BTech students at IITs under the SC/ST category are exempt from paying tuition fees.