NITs : Stepping up the Ladder

During the second five year plan (1956-60) in India, a number of industrial
projects were contemplated. To ensure that there is no dearth of engineering
talent, starting 1959, seventeen regional engineering colleges (RECs) were
established. The REC system served well but as time passed, some state
governments showed lack of responsibility. In 2002, as per the recommendations
of the All India Council for Technical Education, the Ministry of HRD decided to
upgrade, in phases, all the original seventeen RECs as NITs; the count has
increased to twenty.

The Government of India also introduced the NIT Act 2007, after which the
NITs have been functioning as autonomous technical universities and draft their
own curriculum and functioning policies. In the XIth Plan period, it is proposed
to establish ten new NITs. Based on factors like request from respective state
governments and feasibility, new NITs are expected to be set up by the
conversion mode or as part of a greenfield project. The twenty-first NIT is
being planned to be set up at Imphal at an estimated initial cost of Rs 500
crore.

After transformation to NIT, RECs have undergone a sea of change in a short
span of two to three years. With a one time grant of about Rs 100 crore (for
each NIT) from the central government, they have vastly improved their
infrastructure. With annual fundings been increased from Rs 10 crore to Rs 30
crore per NIT, the institutions have been able to hire quality teachers. Under
the guidance of IITs, NITs have revamped their curricula, established research
programs and improved faculty/student ratio. Just like the IITs, NITs also admit
students on the basis of an all-India level exam, AIEE, with 50% students from
an all-India list and the rest of the 50% from within the state.

From NIT to IIT?

In 2002, when Roorkee University was converted into the seventh IIT (and the
first college to be converted into an IIT), the race to have an IIT in its own
state began in south India. After this conversion, a regional imbalance was
created, with only three IITs in the north (Delhi, Kanpur, and Roorkee), and
only one (Madras) in south. This led to pressure being mounted on the central
government by the various state governments. Finally, the government decided to
resolve the issue by announcing that some RECs would be converted to NITs.

All NITs have revamped their curricula, established research programs and improved faculty/student ratio. Are some of them ready to become IITs?

In October 2003, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the
creation of five more IITs by upgrading existing academic institutions that have
the necessary promise and potential. But the the NDA governments plans to
announce five IITs during the general elections in May 2004, were thwarted by
the enforcement of the code of conduct by the Election Commission. The current
HRD Ministry will make the final selection after taking into consideration the
SK Joshi Committees recommendations and consulting the IIT Board.

Apart from the pressure factor, there is another reason for the government to
think about the conversion mode. All the IITs, apart from IIT Roorkee, were
built from scratch. IIT Guwahati was established in 1992, with an estimated
outlay of about Rs 1,000 crore; but on completion, the total cost was
approximately Rs 1,500 crore. Taking this cost factor into consideration,
converting an NIT to an IIT would prove inexpensive (one-time grant of Rs 300
crore paid over a period of three years and an annual funding of about Rs 100
crore) compared to building a complete new IIT (costing more than approximately
Rs 2,000 crore).

"It is best to set up an IIT and bring the NITs at par with it. Some time ago
there was a strong wind to convert good NITs to IITs and that is when our name
figured in the list, but it did not happen. Currently, there are many NITs which
are competing with the IITs in every aspect, and they will even surpass the IITs
in the near future," says Dr Sandeep Sancheti, director, NIT Surathkal.

Pros and Cons

Will this conversion prove beneficial or will the quality of IITs be
diluted? Considering the benefits that the nation would derive in the long run
from the quality engineers produced, the initial hitch seems just an
apprehension. The one-time grant received by each institute will help the
institutes in upgrading their infrastructure; and the increased annual fundings
would help in appointing talented faculty, research scientists, attract students
for post graduate and PhD programs. After conversion, the institute would have
to adhere to the educational norms laid down by the IIT Board, such as 1:1 ratio
of admitting undergraduate/post graduate students; and a faculty/student ratio
of 1:8 or better, etc.

But the only concern would be the fact that on becoming an IIT, these
institutes would get affiliated with IIT-JEE and in the initial days several
batches will pass out with the IIT tag, even without going through the rigorous
IIT-JEE test. Apart from that, a newly converted college will take a few years
to match the standards of the existing IITs.

The recent DQ-IDC survey ranked NIT Surathkal, NIT Warangal, NIT
Tiruchirapalli, and NIT Calicut in the Top 20 list of T-Schools based on
perspectives like infrastructure, faculty, HR perspective, placement, etc.
Others like NIT Hamirpur, NIT Silchar, NIT Durgapur, NIT Jamshedpur, NIT
Rourkela, and NIT Kurukshetra also find a place of special mention too. 100%
placement even in these tough times has helped institutes like NIT Kurukshetra,
NIT Warangal, NIT Surathkal, and NIT Calicut score an edge. "Companies like
Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, Tata, major PSUs, major oil sector companies
have been the hirers," says YV Rao, director, NIT Warangal.

NIT Warangal, which is currently celebrating its golden jubilee year, is the
first to announce plans to become a university offering courses like medicine,
law as well as post graduate degrees in humanities and business economics. Each
of the NITs are trying to put their best foot forwardbe it establishing a CoE
or offering new courses, the list is endless. Both NIT Warangal and NIT Calicut
intend to build a CoE each.

In a competitive move aimed at both IITs and NITs, NIT Calicut recently
introduced engineering physics course that is mainly offered at IITs. For others
like NIT Hamirpur, the plans have been made for ten years. From the feel of the
competition, it can be concurred that NITs are edging over each other, and
proving to be a tough competition for the IITs too.

Shilpa Shanbhag

shilpas@cybermedia.co.in