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An IIT on every street, an IIM on every block

March 29, 2008 posted by indiatime |

12 Comments so far

1. naren on March 29, 2008 9:24 pm

   Damn right! The grand-cru vineyards in France are allowed only so much grape yield per Chateau to ensure vintage wines. Nor does Government simply print more money when in a financial tight spot. It is the value behind it that counts.You simply do not mass-produce Kumar Gandharvas and Garry Kasparovs of this world. But then Arjun Sing will not understand this. He is certainly (m)ass produced.

2. Pilid on March 30, 2008 3:12 am

   The CPM comrades already set the tone saying they disapprove of elitism and therefore will not let foreign universities into the country. This is probably Arjun Singh’s brainwave to kill two birds with one stone - more IITs in their place and brand devaluation to prevent elitism!
   The Vajpayee government, during its last days, had announced some similar measure. Wonder whatever happened to that.

3. indiatime on March 30, 2008 7:00 pm

   In 1996, a committee, headed by Dr. Us. S. Rao was set up to study the requirements for new IITs in India. A few years ago, Dr. Rao shared some of his opinions & recommendations in an interview.

4. Your Friendly Neighborhood IIT | DesiPundit on March 31, 2008 2:30 pm

   […] comments on the largely ambitious plan of expanding the numbers of IITs and IIMs. Dilution of the brand or expanding the opportunities to […]

5. Rajiv on March 31, 2008 7:39 pm

   One of the key data points that you should see before making a justification one way or the other is what is the percentage of marks that the people who are in those IIT ranks currently that come close to cut-off (Say around the 2500 - 4000 mark) get. It is probable that these people get marks within say 1-2 of each other since they are so close and just lose out on pbly 1/2 a percent or so between each other (of course there is a weighted question concept that comes into play probably in such cases)

   I have heard the ex-dean of IITM say in a talk that there is hardly any difference between the first 10 - 12000 people, it is hardly a few marks or so. After that is the big drop in quality of the answers around this point when the merit concept becomes a big problem.

   Even look at it numbers-wise, if it is for e.g. 700 * 6 students now amongst over 200000, it is still a very low percent of around 2 %. If that increases to maybe 2.75% because of the increase in no. of IITs (all new IITs wont have so many seats to start off with), the quality would still remain since you are filtering around 97% of the people. So the dissipation of quality wont be as much as is made out to be - at the same time you are probably rewarding those who may have just missed out by half a mark because it gets so close around the 2500 rank overall.

   I was one of those who was thrashing any increase in the nos. but after going through the numbers, it is actually not such a big mistake. As long as of course the 7 does not become 70 or 700, which they will never become because of the infra hurdle and stuff. It might be another thing to brand and increase the value of these new IITs and IIMs, else they will perennially lag the established famous 5.

6. Mayuresh Gaikwad on March 31, 2008 11:11 pm

   One thing we ought to consider is - “Who owns the IIT & IIM brands”. I do not think the alumni of either institutes own it, it is owned by the central govt. Hence, the average Indian citizen has as much of a say in deciding the future of these brands as does an IIT/IIM alumnus. The central govt. is formed by representatives of the people, so according to the democratic process, all is well.
   Secondly, the arguement that increasing the number of IITs will reduce the brand value is not the best arguement against the step. It is like saying - Not everyone should own a luxury car, because if everyone does it, the car is no longer a luxury car. the arguement we need to make is the foll:
   The education department has INR 10,000 crores in education budget. What is the best utilization of this money? Is it in the formation of IITs/IIMs or in the spread of primary education, or something else. With 75% of India still uneducated even upto class 4 (Please remember that the definition of literacy in India is anyone who can write his/her name in any language, so literacy figures do not make sense), I think we get the maximum returns by investing the education budget in ensuring that every citizen is educated atleast upto class 4 (primary education), so that he/she can read, write as well as be proficient with numbers, essential for survival. Further, invest in middle-schools and secondary schools. The ultimate aim of the education department should be to provide free and compulsary education to all upto high-school. College education can be left to the discretion of the individual, and can be in private hands as well. Hence, instead of wasting the money on IITs, IIMs, etc., the govt. would do well to put the money to build good public primary schools and later, secondary schools

   Arguing against newer IITs and IIMs because it decreases the brand value of the current institutes does not sound right to me.

7. Dinesh on April 1, 2008 3:03 am

   I agree with Mayuresh Gaikwad totally. We need grass root solutions, which is what should be the argument and brand dilution should be secondary. Are you saying that adding 7 more IITs will kill the value of IIT ? Don’t you think an entity should grow proportional to demand? just count how many aspiring Engineers were there in 1951 compared to now! You seem to be wise enough, so please do the Math. More IITs won’t hurt, but the point should be that the budget needs to be spent wisely like Mayuresh said. Start cleaning from the bottom.

8. required name on April 1, 2008 9:47 am

   The post is a classic example of the Marie Antoinette syndrome. Why not close down all but one of the existing IITs? And in that remaining IIT, why not have only one seat so that its a brand like no damn country has ever seen? That would satisfy the alumnus for sure.

9. nishant on April 1, 2008 12:50 pm

   iits were set up with a view that they would turn out to become something like the elite western universities and contributing greatly to research. we all know what the situation is .. and do we have so many professors to staff these proposed iits when the existing ones are under staffed! iits have failed their basic purpose and building more will lead to nothing

10. indiatime on April 2, 2008 1:59 am

    When politicians tell us they are upto some greater good and point in direction A, most of us will take the bait.

    It is what the same politicians do in direction B that is usually the switch issue.

    I am guessing that switch is an IIT or an IIM campus reserved for backward classes.

11. sam on April 2, 2008 9:02 pm

    Hope they maintain the quality program, instead of just mass cranking of IIT & IIM number crunchers.

12. sandeep on April 10, 2008 10:35 pm

    No doubt this is dilution of brand. If goverment really wants to improve the condition of higher education then he should think about improving condition of existing colleges. Opening new brand colleges is no solution because India is creating enough engineers and professionals.