Study Says IITians Not Happy With New JEE Format

Several alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) are not happy with the new Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) format. The new Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) is conducted for admissions in to IITs, NITs, IIITs, Deemed Universities and other central funded technical institutions.

IITians feels that new JEE exam will dilute of the prestigious institute like IIT brand and pave the way for exam scams that have enclose other educational institutions.

Around 994 IIT alumni in which 937 from IIT Bombay and 57 from others, who took the part in the poll, 93% said that with the control of the exams no longer with the IITs, there was a great danger of scams and scandals bother the exams.

Total of 1,765 votes were polled online, including alumni, students, faculty members and others. The results of the poll were released in the September issue of the alumni quarterly, Fundamatics, last month.

From next year, entry to the IITS will be through a two stage process, one with the first exam to be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and the second by the IITs. The IITs accepted the 'Compromise Solutions' of two part exam with board exam marks as eligibility and not admission criteria in July.

Around 90% of the alumni studied and 89% of the entire polling population said the reforms would alter the IIT Brand.

Bakul Desai, Chairperson of the IITB said, "We are proud of the JEE system as it exists. It has been completely false-proof and has a certain integrity. The natural fear is the exam will be compromised. The decisions by the human resources development ministry are also seen as interference".

The online poll was conducted through June and July, around the time the proposed reforms were being debated and opposed, with some of the poll results also submitted to the IITB council for its special meeting to discuss the revised exam format.

Correspondents also expressed concern about the subdivision of institutional autonomy, with 93% saying declining council voices were not taken into account when the reforms were announced.