Just as the IIMs had to cope with glitches in their online entrance process, the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) are also drawing flak for the online admissions introduced this year.
Complaints about the new online counselling process being unsafe were echoed by several IIT faculty members, who told HT the new system was not only non-secured but also prone to misuse.
The controversy has its origins in the online counselling system that has replaced physical counselling sessions that were in practice till last year.
IIT freshers choose their stream and the institute where they want to study during the counselling process.
All eligible IIT students now have to do is to feed their registration number and name on the website to select a course and the institution where they would prefer to study.
The website doesn't ask for a password, and once the choices have been made, the software doesn't allow any alteration.
"A student's registration number is not secret and can be known to several others, including competing students," a computer science professor said.
"Rivals can pick a course for any given student in a manner that suits them," he said.
A senior IIT administrator, on the condition of anonymity, admitted "the online system may not be tamper-proof but no evidence has come up to suggest there has been a misuse".
Several IIT teachers - who cannot officially speak to the media under service rules - argued the "non-secure" nature of the online counselling website makes the process open to misuse.
Online counselling also offers less transparency than face-to-face sessions, some students say.
The first round of the counselling is over but the IITs will host a second round to enable students to pick up any vacant seats that were available only to higher ranked students in the first round.
All general category students who earned a rank in the IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) this year were asked to visit jee.iitm.ac.in/allotcourses to pick their stream and the institution where they want to study.
The options available to them were based on their rank.
Courtesy : HT
Friday, July 2, 2010
14-year-old tops in IIT Delhi region
Fourteen-year-old Sahal Kaushik, who holds the 33rd rank at all-India level in the IIT JEE exam, emerged the Delhi region topper in the entrance examination.
At the press conference to honor the toppers, Sahal, who was too shy to speak on stage, handed the mike over to his mother Ruchi Kaushik. But that was just for a while, off the stage, the boy giggled with his friend and answered media questions quite comfortably.
"He mixes where he wants to. He has participated in competitions at the international level and mixed very well with everyone," says Ruchi. A doctor by profession, Ruchi was her son's first teacher.
"His basic schooling was mostly at home and I looked after his studies," Ruchi said.
"We got him admitted for Class 10 boards at the Vandana International School in Dwarka. He did all his studies for Class 11 and 12 from Narayana Institute," she informed the media persons.
Asked how she felt about her son performing so well at such a young age, Ruchi said, "He was always a very bright child, so it was not a surprise."
The boy also has to his credit two Asian Physics Olympiad medals -- silver for 2009 and bronze for 2010. Sahal was also a member of Asia School Camp at Japan in 2009 and is a scholar of the prestigious Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana.
Talking about his interest, Sahal said, "I want to do research."
"I will either go for the integrated M.Sc. at IIT Kanpur or for the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research," he says.
Ruchi supports her son, saying, "He can do what he likes. We have never pressurized our children for anything."
His mother says that Sahal is apart from other children not only in his performance but also in his interests and hobbies. Sahal is interested in reading historical books and listening to old songs. Asked about his favorite singer, Sahal said, "It is hard to say who is my favorite but I like Kishore Kumar."
Sahal also breaks the myth of toppers scoring 90 plus in board exams. This topper scored a modest 76 percent in Class 10 and 73 percent in Class 12 board exams.
"He has a sharp brain, does calculations very fast, but fails to express very well on paper. Perhaps that is why he scored less in CBSE exams," Ruchi said. IANS
At the press conference to honor the toppers, Sahal, who was too shy to speak on stage, handed the mike over to his mother Ruchi Kaushik. But that was just for a while, off the stage, the boy giggled with his friend and answered media questions quite comfortably.
"He mixes where he wants to. He has participated in competitions at the international level and mixed very well with everyone," says Ruchi. A doctor by profession, Ruchi was her son's first teacher.
"His basic schooling was mostly at home and I looked after his studies," Ruchi said.
"We got him admitted for Class 10 boards at the Vandana International School in Dwarka. He did all his studies for Class 11 and 12 from Narayana Institute," she informed the media persons.
Asked how she felt about her son performing so well at such a young age, Ruchi said, "He was always a very bright child, so it was not a surprise."
The boy also has to his credit two Asian Physics Olympiad medals -- silver for 2009 and bronze for 2010. Sahal was also a member of Asia School Camp at Japan in 2009 and is a scholar of the prestigious Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana.
Talking about his interest, Sahal said, "I want to do research."
"I will either go for the integrated M.Sc. at IIT Kanpur or for the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research," he says.
Ruchi supports her son, saying, "He can do what he likes. We have never pressurized our children for anything."
His mother says that Sahal is apart from other children not only in his performance but also in his interests and hobbies. Sahal is interested in reading historical books and listening to old songs. Asked about his favorite singer, Sahal said, "It is hard to say who is my favorite but I like Kishore Kumar."
Sahal also breaks the myth of toppers scoring 90 plus in board exams. This topper scored a modest 76 percent in Class 10 and 73 percent in Class 12 board exams.
"He has a sharp brain, does calculations very fast, but fails to express very well on paper. Perhaps that is why he scored less in CBSE exams," Ruchi said. IANS
Move to scrap IIT-JEE, stress on board marks
The IITs and all other engineering schools may soon pick students based more on board examination marks than on entrance test performances, under testing reforms recommended by a panel of IIT directors.Prof Damodar Acharya, Director IIT Kharagpur who headed the key panel.
The panel, appointed by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, has recommended replacing the four-decade-old IIT-Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and myriad other engineering entrance examinations with a common test, modelled on the US-based scholastic aptitude test (SAT).
The panel has suggested that the IITs accord a 70 per cent weightage to board examination scores in picking students, in its report to Sibal accessed by The Telegraph through top panel sources.
Scores in the common aptitude test that will replace the IIT-JEE will contribute the remaining 30 per cent weightage in determining which candidates are selected, the panel has recommended.
Unlike the current engineering entrance examinations, including the IIT-JEE, the common aptitude test will not have questions on Physics, Chemistry and Math, but will test students’ powers of logical reasoning and communication skills.
If the recommendations are accepted, the IITs will, for the first time, admit students based more on their board examination marks than on their performance in a special entrance test.
The proposed reforms will also be the most wide-reaching changes to India’s undergraduate engineering admission procedure in decades. Over two million students appear for different undergraduate engineering entrance examinations every year. Over 4.5 lakh appeared for Sunday’s IIT-JEE alone.
Officials in the HRD Ministry refused to comment on the report’s contents. But top sources confirmed that Sibal, currently touring New Zealand, has asked his officials to study the report in detail so the ministry can discuss it after he returns on April 15.
The minister had announced in February that he was setting up a panel under IIT Kharagpur director Damodar Acharya to study proposed reforms to the IIT-JEE. The panel was appointed in March, with the directors of the IITs in Mumbai, Roorkee and Chennai as the other members.
Although the panel was originally intended to propose reforms only for the IIT-JEE, its recommendations, if accepted, will also mean the end of the All India Engineering Entrance Examination and all state-specific common entrance tests.
The new common aptitude test will help admit students to all undergraduate engineering institutions in India, whether run by the Centre, state governments or private managements.
The recommendations indicate that institutions other than the IITs will also be required to give 70 per cent weightage to board examination marks, but do not specifically say so.
The panel has recommended that the government develop a Comprehensive Weighted Performance Index (CWPI) to calculate a student’s overall score based cumulatively on his performance in the board examinations and in the common aptitude test. The report appears principally based on discussions at a meeting held with other government representatives, including Central Board of Secondary Education chairman Vineet Joshi and select state representatives in Chennai on March 16.
The HRD ministry is already working towards a plan to introduce a common high school curriculum in the sciences and math, cutting across the 35 boards — central and state — that govern Indian school education.
The common curriculum would make easier a comparison between the board examination scores of students from schools affiliated to different central and state government boards, Joshi had told the meeting.
The CWPI proposed by the panel is aimed at normalising any differences that remain between difficulty levels of school-leaving examinations under different boards. (Courtesy : The Telegraph)
The panel, appointed by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, has recommended replacing the four-decade-old IIT-Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and myriad other engineering entrance examinations with a common test, modelled on the US-based scholastic aptitude test (SAT).
The panel has suggested that the IITs accord a 70 per cent weightage to board examination scores in picking students, in its report to Sibal accessed by The Telegraph through top panel sources.
Scores in the common aptitude test that will replace the IIT-JEE will contribute the remaining 30 per cent weightage in determining which candidates are selected, the panel has recommended.
Unlike the current engineering entrance examinations, including the IIT-JEE, the common aptitude test will not have questions on Physics, Chemistry and Math, but will test students’ powers of logical reasoning and communication skills.
If the recommendations are accepted, the IITs will, for the first time, admit students based more on their board examination marks than on their performance in a special entrance test.
The proposed reforms will also be the most wide-reaching changes to India’s undergraduate engineering admission procedure in decades. Over two million students appear for different undergraduate engineering entrance examinations every year. Over 4.5 lakh appeared for Sunday’s IIT-JEE alone.
Officials in the HRD Ministry refused to comment on the report’s contents. But top sources confirmed that Sibal, currently touring New Zealand, has asked his officials to study the report in detail so the ministry can discuss it after he returns on April 15.
The minister had announced in February that he was setting up a panel under IIT Kharagpur director Damodar Acharya to study proposed reforms to the IIT-JEE. The panel was appointed in March, with the directors of the IITs in Mumbai, Roorkee and Chennai as the other members.
Although the panel was originally intended to propose reforms only for the IIT-JEE, its recommendations, if accepted, will also mean the end of the All India Engineering Entrance Examination and all state-specific common entrance tests.
The new common aptitude test will help admit students to all undergraduate engineering institutions in India, whether run by the Centre, state governments or private managements.
The recommendations indicate that institutions other than the IITs will also be required to give 70 per cent weightage to board examination marks, but do not specifically say so.
The panel has recommended that the government develop a Comprehensive Weighted Performance Index (CWPI) to calculate a student’s overall score based cumulatively on his performance in the board examinations and in the common aptitude test. The report appears principally based on discussions at a meeting held with other government representatives, including Central Board of Secondary Education chairman Vineet Joshi and select state representatives in Chennai on March 16.
The HRD ministry is already working towards a plan to introduce a common high school curriculum in the sciences and math, cutting across the 35 boards — central and state — that govern Indian school education.
The common curriculum would make easier a comparison between the board examination scores of students from schools affiliated to different central and state government boards, Joshi had told the meeting.
The CWPI proposed by the panel is aimed at normalising any differences that remain between difficulty levels of school-leaving examinations under different boards. (Courtesy : The Telegraph)
Monday, June 14, 2010
The six myths about Engineering you should know
Two incidents drove me to write this article. In the first incident, a woman wished that her son became a “Mechatronics Engineer” (Mechatronics deals with the mechanical and electronics principles applied together). She explained that “Robotics” is the future of the world (guess Steven Spielberg has had some influence over her) and “Mechatronics Engineers” would be in great demand in future. She thought her son could build a robot on graduating.
In the second incident, a student from my school got into an IIT recently. One of my schoolteachers mentioned this and added: “He is a brilliant student who is well-planned. He has started preparations to sit for GMAT after his engineering.” GMAT is an examination to get into management schools (primarily in the U.S. and several other English-speaking nations). My teacher believes that engineering, followed by a management course, is a good option.
In this article, I try to make clear some facts about ‘engineering' — facts which will prove the above (and some other) expectations and beliefs to be far from reality.
Engineers are super-humans
People do not understand the reality of ‘engineering.' For them, engineers are “super-humans” who build rockets, robots, electric vehicles and the like. The reason is that when a person says he works on a satellite project, people jump to the conclusion that he knows every detail of building a satellite. In reality, no engineer can know the entire details of projects. For example, it requires people from various disciplines such as electrical, mechanical, chemical and materials engineering to design an electric car.
Since the common man has the “super-human” view in mind, he generally does not accept or appreciate many of the “real” engineering works. For example, a home inverter might not bring about any awe to the common man as does an electric vehicle (though both might be equally challenging to build), because he often finds a technician setting right the problems in a home inverter. The technician just knows by experience what to do, whereas an engineer knows why it has to be done.
Engineering is more valuable than science
First, I will clarify the difference between ‘science' and ‘engineering' through a simple example. The study of optics of materials will fall under science. Scientists (physicists, in this case) will try to explain the optical properties which different materials possess. If someone tries to use the optical properties to make a microscope or a camera, he will be an engineer. Scientists establish facts which engineers exploit to make things useful to society. History would tell you that scientists did a lot of engineering work in the earlier days (between 1700 and 1900 when a lot of development really happened in science and engineering).
Today, with the vastness of the different fields, science and engineering have separated . Now, scientists rarely take up engineering work. Nevertheless, I would say scientists play a greater role as they have to establish the basic facts for engineers to build upon.
Unfortunately, since the result of engineering is the one that fetches money, people have a craze for engineering. It is disheartening to see a Ph.D. student in science getting a lesser stipend than a Ph.D. student in engineering. It should have been the other way round. Any nation that ignores the role of science cannot survive in the long run.
Management studies goes with engineering
A degree in engineering followed by a degree in Management is the much sought-after combination. Again, a ‘myth' that engineering and management are related is at work. Engineering (with science as the basis) has nothing to do with management (which does not involve science). A lucrative salary is what attracts people to management studies.
Furthermore, most institutes do not introduce engineering in a proper way, leaving students without confidence to pursue higher education.
We need more IITs
There are many IITs coming up, ostensibly to help the nation meet the requirement of engineers. Truly speaking, we have enough of engineers. Design, the work of engineers, requires just a few people.
The dearth is not in the number but in the quality of engineers we produce. It is enough if we are able to improve and maintain the quality of our institutes and retain the people graduating from them by creating ample opportunities for them to work in India with a good salary. It is better to improve and maintain the standards of the NITs, the IITs and other government institutes than creating newer ones and diluting the existing standards.
Foreign MNCs do best R&D engineering
Foreign multinationals that claim to have research and development centres in India do not do real engineering work in the country, as it is natural for any company to have real product development on home soil.
Here again, the salary is what attracts people (thanks to the dollar-rupee conversion). This is a case of brain drain, in which the brains are hired not to work. Though many might not accept, the basic aim of the foreign MNCs is to utilise the cheap labour in the developing countries to run their manufacturing units; product development is not their primary goal.
People generally end up doing tasks that are not as challenging as is the work in smaller Indian industries trying to develop products of their own.
A B.E/B.Tech graduate is an “Engineer”
With the vastness of technology, in the present day one cannot call oneself an engineer just on graduating. A B.E./B.Tech. graduate knows just the basics. I would say that post-graduation is a must. Or at least, one needs to work for a few years to understand and build engineering products. A lot of people believe that a B.E. graduate in aerospace would be able to build rockets on graduating. If it were so, there would be rockets flying everywhere!
I would advise people without an engineering background to talk to people who do real engineering work to take decisions before choosing the field for their children. The aim of education is not merely to land a high-paying job. It should empower you to find a suitable work for yourself.
Author : Arun Karuppaswamy
In the second incident, a student from my school got into an IIT recently. One of my schoolteachers mentioned this and added: “He is a brilliant student who is well-planned. He has started preparations to sit for GMAT after his engineering.” GMAT is an examination to get into management schools (primarily in the U.S. and several other English-speaking nations). My teacher believes that engineering, followed by a management course, is a good option.
In this article, I try to make clear some facts about ‘engineering' — facts which will prove the above (and some other) expectations and beliefs to be far from reality.
Engineers are super-humans
People do not understand the reality of ‘engineering.' For them, engineers are “super-humans” who build rockets, robots, electric vehicles and the like. The reason is that when a person says he works on a satellite project, people jump to the conclusion that he knows every detail of building a satellite. In reality, no engineer can know the entire details of projects. For example, it requires people from various disciplines such as electrical, mechanical, chemical and materials engineering to design an electric car.
Since the common man has the “super-human” view in mind, he generally does not accept or appreciate many of the “real” engineering works. For example, a home inverter might not bring about any awe to the common man as does an electric vehicle (though both might be equally challenging to build), because he often finds a technician setting right the problems in a home inverter. The technician just knows by experience what to do, whereas an engineer knows why it has to be done.
Engineering is more valuable than science
First, I will clarify the difference between ‘science' and ‘engineering' through a simple example. The study of optics of materials will fall under science. Scientists (physicists, in this case) will try to explain the optical properties which different materials possess. If someone tries to use the optical properties to make a microscope or a camera, he will be an engineer. Scientists establish facts which engineers exploit to make things useful to society. History would tell you that scientists did a lot of engineering work in the earlier days (between 1700 and 1900 when a lot of development really happened in science and engineering).
Today, with the vastness of the different fields, science and engineering have separated . Now, scientists rarely take up engineering work. Nevertheless, I would say scientists play a greater role as they have to establish the basic facts for engineers to build upon.
Unfortunately, since the result of engineering is the one that fetches money, people have a craze for engineering. It is disheartening to see a Ph.D. student in science getting a lesser stipend than a Ph.D. student in engineering. It should have been the other way round. Any nation that ignores the role of science cannot survive in the long run.
Management studies goes with engineering
A degree in engineering followed by a degree in Management is the much sought-after combination. Again, a ‘myth' that engineering and management are related is at work. Engineering (with science as the basis) has nothing to do with management (which does not involve science). A lucrative salary is what attracts people to management studies.
Furthermore, most institutes do not introduce engineering in a proper way, leaving students without confidence to pursue higher education.
We need more IITs
There are many IITs coming up, ostensibly to help the nation meet the requirement of engineers. Truly speaking, we have enough of engineers. Design, the work of engineers, requires just a few people.
The dearth is not in the number but in the quality of engineers we produce. It is enough if we are able to improve and maintain the quality of our institutes and retain the people graduating from them by creating ample opportunities for them to work in India with a good salary. It is better to improve and maintain the standards of the NITs, the IITs and other government institutes than creating newer ones and diluting the existing standards.
Foreign MNCs do best R&D engineering
Foreign multinationals that claim to have research and development centres in India do not do real engineering work in the country, as it is natural for any company to have real product development on home soil.
Here again, the salary is what attracts people (thanks to the dollar-rupee conversion). This is a case of brain drain, in which the brains are hired not to work. Though many might not accept, the basic aim of the foreign MNCs is to utilise the cheap labour in the developing countries to run their manufacturing units; product development is not their primary goal.
People generally end up doing tasks that are not as challenging as is the work in smaller Indian industries trying to develop products of their own.
A B.E/B.Tech graduate is an “Engineer”
With the vastness of technology, in the present day one cannot call oneself an engineer just on graduating. A B.E./B.Tech. graduate knows just the basics. I would say that post-graduation is a must. Or at least, one needs to work for a few years to understand and build engineering products. A lot of people believe that a B.E. graduate in aerospace would be able to build rockets on graduating. If it were so, there would be rockets flying everywhere!
I would advise people without an engineering background to talk to people who do real engineering work to take decisions before choosing the field for their children. The aim of education is not merely to land a high-paying job. It should empower you to find a suitable work for yourself.
Author : Arun Karuppaswamy
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Some useful links for Organic Chemistry Preparation.
Here are a few links you might find useful in aiding you in Organic Chemistry.Contributed by Sbholo (sbholo@sify.com)
http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C334F99/default.htm
http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C335W00/default.htm
http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C336S00/default.htm
PS: You might have noticed I have stopped posting here because I have been very busy. After May, an overhaul of this blog is planned to make it more user friendly.
http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C334F99/default.htm
http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C335W00/default.htm
http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C336S00/default.htm
PS: You might have noticed I have stopped posting here because I have been very busy. After May, an overhaul of this blog is planned to make it more user friendly.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Brand IIT: the people behind the image
| IITs have justly been ranked as the top educational institutions in India and Asia. A little known fact is that more than 80 per cent of their products live and work in India. The next stage is to restructure and reinvent IITs so that they can become world-class centres of research. |
A FEW days ago, I went to have my passport renewed. After waiting quite a while in a horribly cramped room, I finally entered the PRO's office and presented my application. He immediately informed me that I had filled in outdated forms and followed the wrong instructions and would have to come back later with the correct forms. I was crestfallen and pleaded that I had downloaded the forms from the Ministry's website and could not afford to take too much time away from my work at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
His expression and attitude underwent an immediate transformation. "Sir, please sit down. The website is outdated. It's not our fault. Here are the right forms. We can't afford to waste your time. IITs have done so much for our country." While I was filling in the forms at his desk, he expressed his unhappiness that so many of our students migrate to the United States and do not work for their own country. However, I was out of his office within 15 minutes with all the papers approved.
On my way home, I marvelled at how times have changed. Now brand IIT is recognised all over India and abroad and we can even get preference over others in government offices! However, some myths persist. Everyone believes most of our students go abroad and a majority of them take up management jobs. This is because very few people know the actual output of IITs and the career profiles of our alumni. We are generally known for the difficulty youngsters face in coping with our joint entrance exam (JEE) and the outstanding successes achieved by some of our graduates (B.Tech.) in the U.S.
What most do not know is that B.Tech. graduates constitute less than half the students trained at IITs and that the majority, in fact, are Masters and PhD degree holders. For example, over the years IIT Delhi has trained about 26,000 students of whom only 37 per cent graduated with a B.Tech., 53 per cent at the Masters level, and 10 per cent with PhDs. The profile is similar for all other IITs. It is this stress on postgraduate education that has helped IITs develop their reputation and expertise. It is this aspect that makes them different from other engineering institutions.
In the past few years, IITs have been ranked as the top educational institutions in India and Asia by national and international magazines. However, the only objective ranking of top 500 universities worldwide by research output has been done by Professor Nian Cai Liu and his colleagues at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. In this list, the only institutions to make it from India are the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. So what makes us tick and what do our graduates actually do in life?
Detailed scientific studies of the graduates from IITs Bombay and Madras show that about 35 to 40 per cent of them proceed abroad for higher studies, and about a quarter return to work in India. This means that only about a quarter of our graduates settle abroad. The pattern is roughly similar for all IITs. Now, remember that less than half our products are B. Tech. degree holders and that about 60 per cent are Masters and PhDs. All indicators show that the proportion of our postgraduate students going abroad is less than that of those with bachelors' degrees. Therefore, it seems that the total number of our students settling abroad may be less than a fifth of our total production. In other words, more than 80 per cent of our products live and work in India. These studies also show that those who go abroad represent the whole class profile and not just the toppers. This is quite reassuring.
What do our students do after they leave the IITs? Of those who go abroad, a significant number are in management jobs. Some hold top positions in multinational corporations. But what is very creditable is that almost every engineering department in most major U.S. universities seems to have an IIT graduate on its faculty. A look at the almost 200 students honoured by IITs as their distinguished alumni is instructive. Of these, about half work in India and the rest abroad; and technical researchers and professors constitute a little less than half of the total. Of the researchers honoured, 40 per cent work in India. What is interesting is that almost 70 per cent of the managers honoured work in India and most head technical companies. Of the entrepreneurs honoured, a vast majority of them come from the IT sector and live in the U.S.
What is even more interesting is that IIT students occupy the top rungs of R&D or management positions in almost all technical companies in the public and private sector in India. Many even hold senior positions in PWD, the Railways, and the Army. This should not surprise as a Department of Science and Technology sponsored study showed that a majority of those employed in the R&D departments of the top 20 public and private sector companies were Masters or PhD products from IITs. Similarly, a significant proportion of those working as teachers in engineering colleges received their higher degrees from the IITs.
What is clear is that the IITs have played a major role in the technical life of India — and this has come from their postgraduate programmes. The importance of postgraduate programmes and the availability of generous scholarships are sometimes lost on those not knowing the facts behind the image of IITs. If these institutions had not given this kind of importance to research and postgraduate education, many of our faculty members, who are well known, would have never joined these institutions. Involvement in research keeps the teachers updated and this upgrades the quality of undergraduate education. Finally, if postgraduate science and engineering education was not free along with adequate stipends (not loans), most of our students would not have opted for a research career.
Interdisciplinary outlook needed
The vision behind the establishment of IITs was that they would become centres of world-class research. A dispassionate analysis would show that we have done better than most people think, but are not good enough yet. However, a foundation has been established and we have to build on it. Like all structures, what is above the ground must be different from the foundation in form as well as function. To move forward in the 21st century, IITs will have to become much more interdisciplinary in their research outlook. This will require working with a much wider variety of professionals in the life sciences and social sciences. Leadership in research will require a much greater emphasis on theoretical work, as much of product development will be done in the secretive laboratories of large companies. Young faculty members will have to work in small tightly knit interdisciplinary groups in close interaction with national and international peer groups.
To achieve this objective, there must be a restructuring and reinventing of the IITs with a vision of the future, not the narrow immediate needs of today. And for this, there must be debate and discussion that captures the aspirations and dreams of the young Indian researchers in India and abroad.
(The writer is Professor and Coordinator, Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme, at IIT Delhi.)
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