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BASANT KUMAR MOHANTY
New Delhi, Sept. 11: A government committee set up to review IIT course content has called for “drastic changes” at the postgraduate level with stress on research to match industry requirements.
In an interim report, the panel said basic research was not getting much of a priority and suggested setting up a research council at each of the premier tech institutes to co-ordinate with other institutions and industry.
The committee, headed by science and technology secretary T. Ramasami, however, found the undergraduate curriculum largely satisfactory.
The panel’s report was yesterday discussed at a meeting of the IIT council, the apex decision-making body of the tech schools.
“The committee is of the view that the curriculum has to be changed with focus on research to make it more relevant for industry. It said drastic changes are required at the postgraduate level,” an IIT director told The Telegraph.
Sources said the committee, after a comparative study of the curriculum and industry requirements, suggested that the course content had to be made relevant to the needs of a developing economy.
The committee said each IIT should have a research council to co-ordinate with other research organisations and industry so that the tech schools could work on need-based technology.
The panel also suggested creation of an exclusive cadre of technical staff to support research. Under existing norms, IITs can have 11 administrative and technical staff for every 10 academic staff.
The IITs and the review committee both feel the institutes need more technical staff to support research.
The IIT council has accepted the suggestion for creating a technical staff cadre. The suggestion to revamp the curriculum will be decided after the Ramasami committee submits its final report. The council is expected to meet in January.
The human resource ministry has set up another committee to outline a vision for the future of the IITs and look into their governance and fee structure. This committee, headed by former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar, is expected to submit a report by December.
The suggestions of this committee will also be discussed at the next meeting of the IIT council.
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(if you having troubles, try posting your comment on this page or send an email to chronicle @ itbhuglobal.org)Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University
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