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The Joint Council of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) on Wednesday decided to hold a common entrance test for admissions to the IITs and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) by scrapping the joint entrance examination and ‘in principle' agreed to hike the fee for IIT students, but with some riders.
The common entrance test has been devised for all engineering colleges, but would be extended to others after the concurrence of the States.
Addressing a press conference here after the meeting, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said in order to make the IIT system accessible and equitable for all, it had been decided to hold an all-India common test for admission to all engineering colleges, including the IITs, but weightage would also be given to the Class XII marks.
“We have decided there shall be one exam. Subject to the clearance of the Central Advisory Board of Education committee and subject to the clearance of the State Ministers, we will try and put that into operation from 2013,” he added.
The Board results would be equalised by a formula to be devised by the Indian Statistical Institute to which the marks obtained in the common entrance test, based on general logic and non-subject matter, would be added. The results of the two tests would be combined for an all-India merit list that would form the basis of admission. Initially, it will be applicable only to the Centrally administered institutes, while State institutes can join in after elaborate discussions.
The Minister said as of now it appeared that the IITs were accessible only to the elite and those who could afford coaching, while there were many more deserving candidates who did not have access. A common entrance with a new marking pattern would make it more equitable. “We have various options but have not yet decided which one to adopt to avoid any aberrations in the system.”
The Joint Council also agreed to raise the fee of IIT students from Rs. 50,000 a year to Rs. 2 lakh as recommended by the Kakodkar Committee, though it rejected the proposal of across the board hike. The hiked fee would impact about 25 per cent students while students from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (except the creamy layer) will continue to get exemption and a large percentage of students are entitled to education loan. “While agreeing on the proposal to hike the fee, we have said the burden on the families should be minimum and asked them to work out a mechanism by which the student would pay the enhanced amount once he or she is gainfully employed,” Mr. Sibal said.
As long as the student is studying he or she is not expected to pay, but after getting a job the money will have to be paid in instalments. This will be ensured by putting a condition on the certificate so that the employer can deduct the amount to be paid to the government. However, if a student joins the IIT faculty, he or she is exempted from payment. The provision can be effectively implemented once the National Academic Depository Bill, 2011 is passed. However, he said all this was subject to the approval of the Finance Ministry.
And to make the IITs world-class institutions, it was decided that the IIT system would produce 40,000 Ph.Ds by 2020 at an average of 10,000 a year. To tide over the faculty shortage, the strength would be enhanced to 16,000 with an additional 4,000 to be appointed every year.
Agreeing to the IIT Directors' demand for more financial and administrative autonomy, the Council asked them to come up with a road map for ensuring accountability .
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2454426.ece
New Delhi, March 23: The human resource development ministry has asked a panel of IIT directors to consider scrapping the four-decade old joint entrance examination and replacing it with a general aptitude test.
The panel of directors, headed by IIT Kharagpur chief Damodar Acharya, was set up by HRD minister Kapil Sibal last month to examine possible JEE reforms.
But under the panel’s terms of reference the directors have been asked to specifically focus on whether the IIT-JEE can be buried altogether, along with other national and state engineering entrance examinations, The Telegraphhas learnt.
This is the first time any HRD ministry has moved towards ending the highly competitive JEE that the IITs have sworn by since the mid-1960s as a common entrance examination for the apex engineering schools.
Any move to end the JEE is likely to ignite opposition from within the IIT community and from sections of the political class.
The IIT-JEE has been ravaged by controversies in recent years, especially in 2006 when the IITs violated their cut-off determination procedure, denying seats to close to 1,000 deserving candidates — as was exposed by The Telegraph. But these blemishes apart, the JEE is credited by many for the success of the IITs.
Sibal had last month announced plans to introduce a common high school syllabus in the sciences and mathematics, and a common examination for admission into colleges along the lines of the US-based scholastic aptitude test.
When he was questioned at the time on whether such a common test would replace institution-specific examinations — specifically the IIT-JEE or the AIIMS entrance test — Sibal had not given a direct answer.
The terms of reference prepared by the HRD ministry, however, unambiguously ask the panel to “examine the possibility” of replacing the IIT-JEE and other engineering tests conducted across the country with a common entrance test (CET).
This CET, the detailed notification of the panel’s work profile says, should focus more on testing the general aptitude of students than on quizzing them on mathematics, physics and chemistry like the IIT-JEE and other examinations.
The notification, representing the vision of the ministry, suggests that the panel of directors work out a mechanism under which students are selected based on their scores in the Class XII board examination and the CET.
As the board examination in any case tests students in mathematics, physics and chemistry, the CET need not, the HRD ministry’s notification argues.
Apart from Acharya, the HRD ministry has made IIT Madras director M.S. Ananth, his Bombay counterpart Devang Khakhar and IIT Roorkee director S.C. Saxena members of this panel.
The CET will not just admit students to the IITs and other institutions that select students through the JEE, but will also replace All India Engineering Entrance Examination and state-specific entrance examinations, the notification says.
The AIEEE, which will end with the proposed CET, currently admits the majority of Indian engineering aspirants into colleges. Scores in the AIEEE are used by all central engineering colleges other than the IITs and to fill 50 per cent seats, even in colleges affiliated to state universities.
States fill the remaining 50 per cent seats of their engineering colleges based on their own entrance tests — which, too, the CET aims to end.
Sibal has argued that the multiplicity of entrance tests — where students often have to prove their ability repeatedly — hurts the interests of students.
But a nationwide CET that all institutions will be forced to accept rails against institutional autonomy, critics of this plan are likely to argue.
The IITs, for instance, have for long refused to admit students through the AIEEE — even though most students who appear for the IIT-JEE also appear for the AIEEE.
They have argued that the IIT-JEE — which they prepare — is specifically modelled to select the kind of students the IITs want.
The IIT-JEE in its current format also has many votaries in the political sphere who argue it allows students from non-elite backgrounds to enter the hallowed portals of the IITs.
Engineering aspirants have reasons to rejoice. The IIT Council on Wednesday decided to hold one all India entrance aptitude test by 2013-14, instead of the existing system of multiple exams for engineering colleges at State and Central level, including IITs. The Council’s decision is “subject to approval by the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) and clearance of the State Education Ministers”.
The council meeting presided by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal decided that an all India merit list would be prepared with weightage given to the marks obtained by the aspirant in Class XII Board examination on the basis of an equalisation formula worked out by the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) Kolkata. This would be supplemented by the marks acquired in the National Aptitude Test conducted on the lines of SAT. However, the quantum of weightage given to each is yet to be decided
The Council, which deliberated upon Dr Ramaswami report on JEE reforms, also decided to divert the focus of IIT from undergraduate courses to post-graduate and research-oriented to elevate the standards of premier institutes to “world class”.
“The basis for reform in the examination process that reduces dependency on coaching, aligning the testing process to Class XII syllabus, reducing the multiplicity of tests to one was considered,” Sibal said.
Further, based on the recommendations of the committee headed by Anil Kakodkar the Council decided to prepare a roadmap for taking IITs to global excellence. The Council decided to constitute an Empowered Task Force for implementation of the recommendations for enhancing the administrative and financial autonomy of the IIT system with respect to recruitments and topping up of salaries of faculties. “This was aimed at expansion of the research output of IITs to produce 10,000 PhD graduates annually which are presently about 1000,” Sibal pointed out.
The raise in fee structure from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh per annum would not be changed. “But this would be without causing hardship to students who are unable to afford,” said Sibal.
The entrance fee would continue to remain Rs 50,000 but students at the time of obtaining employment after passing out would enter into an agreement with the IIT for paying back the amount in installments within a time frame. Students who do not obtain any employment or who proceed for a career in research shall not be expected to arrive at such agreement.
New Delhi, Sep 15: The council of IITs today proposed a pan-India common entrance test for admission to engineering programmes possibly from 2013.
After a meeting of the council which stretched for over five hours, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, however, said the concurrence of the Central Advisory Board of Education and state education ministers would be sought before implementing the proposals.
"We have decided there shall be one exam. Subject to the clearance of the CABE committee and subject to the clearance of the state ministers we will try and put that into operations from 2013," he told reporters here.
On the issue of hiking tuition fee as recommended by the Anil Kakodkar committee, he made it clear that "fee would remain the same at Rs 50,000 per annum" but added a student, excluding STs and OBCs, would 'pay back' the amount which is the difference between the fee deposited and what the IIT spends on him.
According to Sibal, an all-India merit list will be prepared based on the combined weightage given to class XII exam and to a common test. The test will examine a students logic and non-subject matters.
He said weightage would be given to the marks obtained in class XII boards after the results are equalised for which Indian Statistical Institute will put in place a mathematical formula for equalisation.
The minister said the council was seized of the problems that states like Andhara Pradesh faced while implementing the equalisation procedure.
Sibal said Indian Statistical Institute's formula would be based on the data of various boards collected over the past four years to make it an efficient equalisation model.
The government had constituted a committee under Secretary to the department of science and technology T Ramasami to examine implementation of a single entrance test. According to Sibal, six options were deliberated upon for the test and Ramasami has been asked to finalise one of these within a month.
The meeting of the council attended by the directors of all IITs took a view of several systems for conduct of the test where it also decided to produce 40,000 PhDs by 2020 and create a pool of 16,000 faculties by then.
Sibal exuded confidence on the viability of the 'pay back' scheme in instalments, saying the DMAT system will be utilised to execute the plan. DMAT is a process for the establishment of a national database of academic qualifications -- currently underway -- in an electronic format by an identified, registered depository.
The dematerialisation of certificates would ensure confidentiality, authenticity and fidelity, enabling online verification and easy retrieval of academic qualifications.
He, however, made it clear that the 'pay back' scheme won't be applicable to those who enrol into M. Tech programme, those who do PhD and to even those who are recruited as faculty in IIT.
The Finance Ministry's nod would be sought before putting in effect the scheme, he said.
The cost factor for an IIT for each students at present stands at around eight lakh against Rs two lakh paid over the entire duration of the B. Tech programme.
He said implementation of the Kakodkar committee recommendation, which had sought to raise the tuition fee to Rs two lakh per annum, was "not possible" with interest of all sections of the society kept in mind.
New Delhi, Sep 15: The council of IITs today proposed a pan-India common entrance test for admission to engineering programmes possibly from 2013.
After a meeting of the council which stretched for over five hours, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, however, said the concurrence of the Central Advisory Board of Education and state education ministers would be sought before implementing the proposals.
"We have decided there shall be one exam. Subject to the clearance of the CABE committee and subject to the clearance of the state ministers we will try and put that into operations from 2013," he told reporters here.
On the issue of hiking tuition fee as recommended by the Anil Kakodkar committee, he made it clear that "fee would remain the same at Rs 50,000 per annum" but added a student, excluding STs and OBCs, would 'pay back' the amount which is the difference between the fee deposited and what the IIT spends on him.
According to Sibal, an all-India merit list will be prepared based on the combined weightage given to class XII exam and to a common test. The test will examine a students logic and non-subject matters.
He said weightage would be given to the marks obtained in class XII boards after the results are equalised for which Indian Statistical Institute will put in place a mathematical formula for equalisation.
The minister said the council was seized of the problems that states like Andhara Pradesh faced while implementing the equalisation procedure.
Sibal said Indian Statistical Institute's formula would be based on the data of various boards collected over the past four years to make it an efficient equalisation model.
The government had constituted a committee under Secretary to the department of science and technology T Ramasami to examine implementation of a single entrance test. According to Sibal, six options were deliberated upon for the test and Ramasami has been asked to finalise one of these within a month.
The meeting of the council attended by the directors of all IITs took a view of several systems for conduct of the test where it also decided to produce 40,000 PhDs by 2020 and create a pool of 16,000 faculties by then.
Sibal exuded confidence on the viability of the 'pay back' scheme in instalments, saying the DMAT system will be utilised to execute the plan. DMAT is a process for the establishment of a national database of academic qualifications -- currently underway -- in an electronic format by an identified, registered depository.
The dematerialisation of certificates would ensure confidentiality, authenticity and fidelity, enabling online verification and easy retrieval of academic qualifications.
He, however, made it clear that the 'pay back' scheme won't be applicable to those who enrol into M. Tech programme, those who do PhD and to even those who are recruited as faculty in IIT.
The Finance Ministry's nod would be sought before putting in effect the scheme, he said.
The cost factor for an IIT for each students at present stands at around eight lakh against Rs two lakh paid over the entire duration of the B. Tech programme.
He said implementation of the Kakodkar committee recommendation, which had sought to raise the tuition fee to Rs two lakh per annum, was "not possible" with interest of all sections of the society kept in mind.
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