Edu-leaders

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Council has proposed a new fee structure, a common entrance test giving weightage to class 12 exam marks and a higher focus on research.

The council, a governing body responsible for all the IITs, has decided to indirectly hike the annual fee of a general category student from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh from 2013.

"The expenditure on one student in IIT is Rs 7-8 lakh, whereas the fee is Rs 50,000," Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said after the council’s meeting.

"We said the fee cannot be hiked, but under the new system discussed, the student will pay the same fee at the time of admission. When they start working, the rest of their fee will be paid in instalments from their salaries," the minister said.

The student will, however, be exempted if he or she goes for higher education, Masters or PhD, or takes up academics and teaching.

"The immediate difference of fee will be borne by the government. If a student has any gainful employment, he will have to pay back the difference in instalments," Sibal said.

Students from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and from the non-creamy layer of other backward category will be exempted from the fee hike.

"According to the calculations, only 25 per cent of the students will be affected by this," Sibal said.

The minister added that a final decision will be taken after consultation with states.

The council also agreed in principle to hold a common entrance test for engineering colleges.

"There are two aims behind holding a common entrance test. First, to reduce the burden on children for taking multiple entrance tests, and second, to maintain the diversity of India inside the IITs," Sibal said.

"Presently, only those who can afford coaching for entrance exams are going to the IITs," he said.

Under the new system suggested, weightage would be given to the marks obtained by a student in class 12 examinations.

"The Indian Statistics Institute has arrived at a formula for equalising marks in all boards. If one board gives 90 per cent as highest marks, and the other gives 75 per cent, the marks will be equalised on the basis of a formula," Sibal said.

Producing more research scholars was one of the key issues taken up during the meeting, with the council deciding to enhance the capacity of IITs to produce 10,000 PhD graduates annually from around 1,000 presently and increase faculty strength from around 4,000 presently to 16,000 by 2020.

Source: igovernment