Making IITs Research Hubs of India

HRD Ministry now wants to convert IITs into Research Hub.

Akshaya Mukul, TNN Nov 24, 2011, 05.57AM IST

NEW DELHI: The HRD ministry has set up a committee to prepare a roadmap for the implementation of IIT reforms suggested by a panel headed by Anil Kakodkar.

Kakodkar himself will head the new committee which would consist of Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT-Madras, chairperson of standing committee of IITs; Devang Khakhar, director of IIT, Bombay; R K Shevgaonkar, director of IIT-Delhi and one more IIT director to be co-opted later.

Kakodkar Committee gave its “Recommendations to Take IITs forward.” ( This is a link to the full Presentation )

 The Committee made recommendations on

·      Enhanced Research Focus

·      Autonomy

·      Faculty, Staff, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Scaling Engineering education

Without meaning to offend members of the expert committee, I cannot see how the research focus will increase by creating 20 IITs or doubling student intake and more and more funding using tax payers money. Even if the research focus increases, the quality of research is not going to improve. IITs could be producing double the number of PhDs, which is a quantitative increase only, but not in quality.

Autonomy of IITs in many ways is a myth. If an IIT is to be truly autonomous it has to earn its keep, through outstanding achievements in Research and revenue generation. Global Businesses have to invest billions to market the research from IITs. Yet Global Businesses will not invest in educational institutes funded and controlled by Govts.

HRD is now providing around Rs. 250Crores per IIT annually which will amount to Rs 5000crores for 20 IITs

B.Techs command better pay that PhDs from IITs: This is not me saying this but an established fact and also reported often by the media

Can we not take cue from the success of IITs undergraduate B.Tech education and the key Ingredient for this success being – “Student Quality”. 

If IITS were to become Research hubs it is imperative to bring in better students to do Post Graduate studies.

Today it is said that students who cannot find good jobs enroll for M.Tech and PhDs ( there will always be exceptions ) to avail Govt Handouts. Every M Tech Student receives Rs8000 to Rs10,000 per month as stipend from GoI. Every PhD student receives Rs22000 to Rs25,000  per month as Stipend from GoI.

If GoI was to implement Kakodkar Committee Recommendations we will have 10,000 PhD Students, it will cost the Govt Rs 25000 x 10,000 =  Rs 25 crores per annum. The question is will this improve the quality of research in IITs ? Afraid not.

If we look at US Universities, Masters students pay fees and get Assistantships on application and acceptance by faculty impressed with your record. Not all masters students get stipend, as in India. This needs to be looked into to improve the quality of intake. At present graduates who cannot find jobs use this as a stop gap solution to get hold of an IIT Tag and we hear that in most IIT’s the first year is wasted teaching the M Tech students B Tech Courses just to teach them some fundas.

Overseas PhD students get full financial assistance most often through major industry sponsors. Instead of the Govt paying PhD students, we need a situation where the Faculty member should forward a Research proposal that has to be vetted by a Granting Body and the onus is on the Granting body to deliver value for the Research. 

For Example if an IIT Faculty member submits an application for a mega grant to research say Solar PV panels to design a new state of the art PV cell that improves the efficiency by 50% as an example and GoI sanctions a grant of Rs 30 Crores, then the onus should be on the Faculty member to interview and pick the best possible applicants to assist with this research that will also lead to a PhD plus some patents

Let us look at Higher education in US from a Broad perspective. In most western countries, local students just want to complete their under graduate studies and look for work. Meaning the demand for PG Courses from local American boys and girls is minimal. So what do American Universities do? Grab the best students available in the world by offering assistantships to do Masters and Doctorates. This is where the Cream of students from IITs, the B.Techs who go abroad land up.

Just like IITs grab the best quality students for UG Degrees, USA grabs the best from around the world for tertiary education, especially India and Asia in general. Singaporeans, Malaysians, Vietnamese, Chinese, Koreans and even Japanese students queue up to do research work in US Universities.

Any good chef will tell you that the quality of ingredients used will determine how the dish turns out. And to lay emphasis, the proof of the pudding is in the eating; meaning the demand for PGs from IITs from potential employers is not great even nationally.

How do we change this ? By getting better quality entrants to do Post Graduate studies. I do not believe Kakodkar Committee Report addresses this main and most relevant aspect.

Without being crude basically it boils down to “ Rubbish in, rubbish out as used in computer language ” in any aspect of life be it PG students selected by IITs or members appointed by GoI  to various committees in India.