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Follow Us"The demographic advantage India has in terms of a large percentage of
young population needs to be converted into a dynamic economic
advantage by providing them the right education and skills,”
said
Mukherjee, union finance
minister in his budget speech. To achieve this, the government chalked
plans to spend Rs 900 crore on education programmes, using ICT in the
fiscal year to March 31, 2010 through a scheme, ‘Mission in
Education through ICT’. Training at the grassroot level is of
importance, so a sneak peek at the
will help in understanding how the future is engineered.
All
about NITs
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, 17
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 17
RECs as NITs of which the count has increased to 20.
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 10 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 a part of a
greenfield project. The 21st NIT is being planned to be set up at
Imphal at an estimated initial cost of Rs 500 crore.
Post
REC age
After transformation to NIT, RECs have undergone a sea of change in a
sport span of 2-3 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 funding having 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 programmes and improved
faculty/student ratio. Just like IITs, NITs also admit students on the
basis of an all-India level exam, AIEE, with 50 per cent students from
an all-India list and the rest of the 50 per cent 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 part of
the issue by announcing that some RECs would be converted to NITs.
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
government's 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 S K Joshi Committee's
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 figured at approximately Rs 1,500 crore.
Taking this cost factor into consideration, converting an NIT to an IIT
would prove inexpensive (one-time grant of 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).
The
Other Side
"Instead of converting an NIT to an IIT and filling its vaccuum with
another NIT, it is best to set up an IIT and bring the NIT at par with
the IIT. Some time ago there was a strong wind to convert good NITs to
IITs and that is when our name figured in the list of conversion but it
did not happen. Currently, there are many NITs who 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.
The
Pros and Cons
Will this conversion prove beneficial or will the quality of the IITs
be diluted? But 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 would help it in upgrading its infrastructure, and the
increased annual funding would help in appointing talented faculty,
research scientists, attract students for post-graduate and PhD
programmes. After conversion the institute would have to adhere to the
educational norms laid down by the IIT Board, such as 1:1 ratio of
admitted undergraduate/postgraduate students; faculty/student ratio of
1:8 or better, etc.
But the only cause of concern would be the fact that on becoming an
IIT, these institutes would get affliated 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
Various NITs
The recent DQ-IDC survey ranks 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 this 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 oils sector companies have been the hirers",
beams Y V Rao, Director, NIT Warangal.
Future
Plans
Recently, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had expressed his intention to
convert institutions like IITs and IIMs into integrated universities
that provide both medical and legal education among other courses.
While the IIMs and IITs have been cautious in their comment, 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 forwards, be it by
establishing a COE or offering new courses, the list is endless. Both
NIT Warangal and NIT Calicut intend to build a COE each. Talk of
courses and accredition and NIT Suratkal, which is also celebrating its
golden jubilee this year surpasses the others. "Apart from offering new
courses, we received recognitions as the best institute for
entrepreneurial education support and the best research partner
institution from CPRI Bangalore. We also intend to join hands with DCU
Ireland and Union of Applied Sciences for an MOU for student exchange,"
informs Dr Sancheti.
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 10 years.
From the feel of the competition, it can be concurred that NITs are
edging over each other, and also proving a tough competition for the
IITs too.
Surely Not In Transition!
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