IITs to come up with action plan to improve rankings

New Delhi [India], Sept 27 (ANI) The Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) met here on Friday and decided that every IIT will come up with an action plan to improve its research excellence and national and international rankings.
The meeting was chaired by Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'.
An official release said that foreign students - including the OCI cardholders with foreign passport and who have studied abroad - would be provided direct entry to appear in the JEE Advanced examinations to promote IITs as a global education destination.
"Every IIT will work on improving their research excellence and through that their national and international rankings. For this, each IIT will come up with their action plan," the release said.
It said that IITs would prepare a scheme for providing scholarships to the bright foreign students to study at their campuses.
They would also explore the possibility of offering online programmes to students both in India and abroad.
The process of recruiting foreign faculty would be continued by liberalising the current regulatory processes.
A major drive will be launched for improving the hostel facilities and rebuilding the dilapidated hostels.
Separate funding for this would be earmarked under Higher Education Financial Agency. "Further, where possible, the PPP model would be implemented which would be started by IIT Delhi," the release said.
It said that to promote excellence, all new appointments would be through tenure track system, under which IITs will have more flexibility in recruitment without insisting for necessary three years post-PhD experience.
The performance of such faculty members will be reviewed by an Internal Review Committee after three years and by an External Review Committee after the fifth year based on which the decision for their retention or promotion to the next higher grade will be decided.
It was also decided that the first and second generation IITs will not engage faculty members from third-generation IITs before they complete a minimum of two years.
The Council approved, in principle, recommendations of the three-member committee constituted for suggesting reforms in M Tech system.
The Committee has recommended a uniform fee structure for M Tech programme in all IITs and for charging the same fee for M Tech as in B Tech programmes.
"Institutions are encouraged to move towards sponsored students or even sponsored programmes as per the requirement of the industry," the release said.
It said academically weak students, who are not able to secure the required credits for promotion to the next semester may be allowed an exit option with a degree programme after the second semester, rather than being forced out of the programme. Individual IITs will decide modalities for this.
In order to ensure that students passing out from IITs do not face any difficulty in foreign countries with regard to their degrees not being accredited by the designated authority, the Council decided that external peer review of IITs will be done by an External Review Committee in the format prescribed by the NBA. Based on the review by the Committee, accreditation will be given by NBA.
It also decided to continue weaker section scholarships for slow-paced students for one additional year beyond the regular term of four years.
The council decided that each IIT will identify their thrust areas for specialization and communicate the same to the ministry within a month. "In these areas, they have to set up nation-best research facilities," the release said.
The release said that the minister launched a common IIT/IISc admission portal developed by IIT Bombay for international applicants interested in pursuing postgraduate studies. (ANI)