JEE (Advanced): IITs reject govt proposal to set up panel for changes to exam

According to the agenda of the IIT-Council meeting, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, the government had proposed to set up a five-member panel with the director of IIT-Madras as chairman to “develop a robust and scientifically designed entrance exam system to test the potential of the candidates as well as to reduce their dependence on coaching institutes”. Abhay Karandikar, director of IIT-Kanpur; Vineet Joshi, director-general of National Testing Agency; and Prof Kannan Moudgalya of IIT-Bombay are tipped to be the other members of the proposal panel.

Speaking to journalists after the Council’s meeting, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said that to address concerns regarding students’ dependence on coaching institutes for cracking JEE (Advanced), IITs will strengthen the Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) programme. Under PAL, IIT students and teachers record lectures to help school students crack the entrance test.

In a significant decision taken by the IIT-Council, each IIT is now free to decide the tuition fee for foreign students enrolled in postgraduate programmes — M Tech and research. The Council has delegated this power to the Board of Governors of each institute. The proposal was placed before the Council after IIT-Delhi urged the government to review the fee of Rs 6 lakh per annum fixed by the Council on the grounds that it was too high to attract foreign students.

The Council also approved the suggestion to set up a common front to recruit foreign faculty collectively for all IITs. For this purpose, one IIT will be designated as the representative of the IIT system for a particular country.

For instance, IIT-Bombay is proposed to be the coordinating institute for all faculty recruitment from Australia, Russia and the west coast states in the USA. The designated IIT will then identify academics of Indian origin completing their PhD in foreign universities to recruit them as assistant professors.