The IIT Council on Tuesday approved in principle an increase in number of seats by 2020, subject to each IIT’s assessment of its preparedness.

“The IITs have to take a call as per their needs. Classrooms cannot be overcrowded. We will permit the relaxation of hostel stay rule so as to facilitate it. Our vision for 2020 is one-lakh seats, though it is up to the institutes to decide how to go about it,” a senior official said. The student-teacher ratio, which should be 10:1 is right now 15:1. New recruitments will, therefore, have to accompany the capacity expansion planned. As of now, the IITs admit 10,500 UG students, 8,000 PG students and 3,000 Ph.D students.

Other initiatives are planned to improve the IITs.

The government is planning to put in place an engineering aptitude test that students of classes 11 and 12 can take up to assess their ability to excel as engineers beforehand.

Research collaboration

This apart, plans for global collaborations have also got the nod of the IIT Council.

“Under the Global Research Interactive Network, we will have research collaborations with other countries,” Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar said after the meeting, which he chaired. “Professors from these nations will come to India. Our students will also go there and access high-end laboratories and facilities.”

Mr. Javadekar said a Prime Minister Research Fellowship would be started so that bright students do not suffer for lack of funds.

“We also discussed how to enhance the global ranking of IITs. Our quality does not reflect in rankings as we are not ahead in global perception. We can use the Indian diaspora to change this,” he said.

With the increase in number of students, more teachers will have to be recruited to maintain standards