Old IITs vs New IITs

While earlier there were just seven IITs, namely, Kharagpur, Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kanpur, Roorkee and Guwahati; in 2008, government added eight more IITs to the list, namely, Hyderabad, Ropar, Patna, Gandhinagar, Indore, Bhubaneswar, Mandi and Kota. The institutes were set up with a view to make the access of such institutes of excellence to larger number students. However, the government’s this aim seem to go in vain as these new IITs are really struggling to match up with the excellence of old IITs.

These new IITs are struggling with their classes operating out of makeshift campuses, faculty shortages and unfilled seats. Last year, more than 500 students rejected the admission offer to study in one of these institutes. Many reasons are being drawn for it which vary from not getting one's choice discipline to being hesitant about 'new IITs' and temporary campuses. This rejection from students show that how severely these new IITs are struggling in order to survive among and with the old and reputed IITs.

According to Surendra Prasad, director of IIT-Delhi, “People are suspicious of the effectiveness of the new IITs. The sudden expansion has led to this kind of a situation. However, though the pace could be a little slow, the need for an expansion was always there.”         

As far as the hesitation of parents and students is concerned, Prasad says, “It is important to disseminate information and we are trying our best. What parents and students need to know is that all these new IITs have an established IIT as their mentor. Besides, quality will not be compromised in any of these new institutes. But then in the initial years, the dilemma is likely to persist because one has to choose between an established IIT and a new one. That's a tough choice to make.”

According to Gautam Barua, director of IIT-Guwahati, “There are issues when any new IIT starts. We started out 15 years ago, but when we moved to the campus in 2000, within time, everything had become smooth.”

“The rationale was that some parts of the country don’t have an IIT. There are so many good candidates who don’t get through the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination),” said Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director of IIT-Madras.

The most important point to keep in mind is that these added seats has not reduced the competition at all which means that the demand for an IIT education is as high as ever, despite an array of other options now available. This year, 4.85 lakh students competed for 7563 seats. This means one student had to compete with 63 other students in order to get into an IIT.

Lastly, Pravin Tyagi, director, IITian Space, a coaching institute, says, “I have received good feedback about the new IITs from former students. What they say is that the syllabus remains the same, and only the infrastructure is not at par with the other IITs. That will take time.”What they say is that the syllabus remains the same, and only the infrastructure is not at par with the other IITs. That will take time.”