IIT council wants more students get admissions in IITs

In a meeting held in New Delhi on Monday, between government officials and the council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), a decision was made to increase the intake of the students to IITs.

IIT council wants more 60% students to get admission in prestigious IITs.

Meanwhile, IIT council took decision making body of the IITs, signaled that the colleges would remain independent of government interference.

The council, whose members include all IIT directors, chairmen of some industrialists and the human resource development (HRD) minister, decided that the IITs would not be reviewed by the National Accreditation Board (NAB) and that the directors of the University Grants Commission and the All India Council for Technical Education would have no say in the appointment of IIT directors any more-both moves designed to reiterate and reinforce the autonomy of the colleges.

"The council decided that since IITs are brands, their internal review will be given to NAB and it will be accepted as accreditation. NAB won't be able to sent its team to assess the IITs," HRD minister, MM Pallam Raju said.

The decision was taken to increase the intake of the students from 7,000 to 12,000, over a period of time.

"It will also improve their (the IITs') earnings (from fees) as well as from non-plan grants from the government," said Alok Mishra, a director at the HRD ministry.

The council did not decide to hike tuition fees as suggested by a committee, headed by the scientist Anil Kakodkar who proposed charging under-graduate students with Rs.2.5 lakh a year.

The IITs had increased fees from Rs.50,000 to Rs.90,000 a year in January. The government spends about Rs.2.25 lakh on each IIT student every year.

"It's up to the IITs now (to consider a revision)," Raju said.