The big league five
|
Five institutions, including the Cochin University of Science and Technology, have been identified for being developed as national centres of excellence. G. Krishnakumar finds out what this would mean to higher education in engineering science and technology in the country.
|
A list prepared by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to identify "promising academic institutions in the country to be upgraded into the level of IITs" is finally taking shape.
Expert panel
An expert committee appointed by MHRD has identified five universities/ university institutions to be transformed into centres of excellence. These educational institutions in the order of their ranking are Bengal Engineering and Science University; Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University; Cochin University of Science and Technology; Andhra University, College of Engineering; and Osmania University College of Engineering and University College of Technology. The expert committee, headed by former Vice-Chancellor of Anna University M. Anandakrishnan, has proposed the name "Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST)" for the transformed institutions.
Appropriate name
"In arriving at an appropriate name for this category of institutions, the underlying consideration is that it should be distinct from those of similar higher technological institutions in India, such as IITs and NITs. The name "Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology" would also signify to the international community the existence of a special category of higher technology institutions in India," says the report prepared by the expert committee.
Sources in MHRD told The Hindu-Educationplus that the expert committee has also recommended one-time support for Engineering and Technology Faculty of Jadavpur University and Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University.
Main group
According to the new directions envisaged by the expert committee, graduates with M.Tech. in dual-degree programmes will be the main group passing out from the IIEST system.
Their level of technical knowledge and skill will be higher than that of the large number of BE/B.Tech. graduates who will be occupying the same space in the job market. The report of the expert committee available with MHRD says that "innovative approach and active linkages with all possible players in the public and private sector and also the Government will have to be established, strengthened and sustained to reach a stage where there is a virtual guarantee of a job after obtaining a postgraduate degree."
Designing course
Referring to the need to restructure the academic programmes, the expert committee has recommended that the postgraduate curricula of the five-year dual-degree programmes and the courses of the two-year postgraduate M.Tech. programme should be designed with great care.
The structure of the programmes should be flexible to provide options to students to offer courses across disciplines, so that IIEST graduates have an edge and are actively sought out by the employers. The report says that doctoral programmes need considerable strengthening both in quality and quantity.
IIESTs should have an adequate number of institutional Ph.D. fellowships/scholarships to enliven their academic milieu with achievements of front-line research. "IIEST group should have live and active linkages to share knowledge expertise and physical resources. It should have special research groups to address problems in frontier areas requiring expertise in several disciplines. They should also establish links with IITs and other prestigious engineering and technology institutions," says the report.
Autonomous institutes
The expert committee proposed the establishment of a system of Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology as autonomous institutes of national importance through an Act of Parliament. The President of India will be the visitor of all IIESTs. The five institutions identified by the committee should function as a consortium with an IIEST council, which will be an advisory body for major common policy decisions. The Minister of HRD will be ex-officio Chairman of IIEST Council. As per the recommendations, each IIEST shall have a Board of Governors chaired by an eminent academic/engineer/ scientist/industrialist.
Highest authority
The Board of Governors shall be the highest decision-making authority of the institute. The President will appoint the Chairman of the Board. Each institute will have an executive council and an academic council. The institutes will have an individual Statute providing for other institutional authorities and offices, their responsibilities and power.
The institutes would be prominently postgraduate institutions offering five-year integrated dual degree programmes in the fields of engineering, science and technology. Efforts have to be made to attract foreign students to the two-year Masters and Doctoral programme in substantial proportion.
Visiting faculty
These institutes have to make conducive provisions to enable outstanding teachers from other reputed institutions in India and abroad to serve as visiting faculty members for extended periods of time.
All IIESTs should preserve their all-India character in their student population through national level admission tests, either by adopting the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) system of the IITs or the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).
The consortium of institutions can also develop a joint common entrance test of IIEST for the five-year integrated dual degree programmes as approved by IIEST council.
For admission to two-year postgraduate and Ph.D. programmes, all institutes should prescribe common all-India level tests such as GATE for Indian students.
Admission of foreign students to IIESTs has to be made on the basis of recognised international tests like GRE. Each institute will establish two to three major research and development centres of excellence in frontier areas of science and technology based on expert assessments of the available talent, emerging demands and overall institutional growth pattern.
Intake capacity
The maximum intake for various programmes: Dual degree B.Tech.-M.Tech. 60; Integrated M.Sc. 60; M.Tech./M.Sc./ M.Arch. /MA/MBA 30 and B.Arch. 50.
The total intake for the five-year integrated programme in engineering, science and architecture for the institute as a whole should be restricted to 700. For two-year Postgraduate programmes in Engineering, Science, Arts, Architecture, and Management should be not more than 500.
The total enrolment of students, including Ph.D. scholars, should not exceed 5000. The faculty strength should eventually be determined on the basis of a student-teacher ratio of about 8:1.
Academic facilities
The MHRD sources said IIESTs have to evolve a long-term master plan for ensuring a proper phasing of their programmes. Every institute should have a modern central library facility. The institutes should have an education technology centre associated with the central computer facility for development of courseware and educational software tools and servicing virtual laboratories, virtual classrooms and teleconferencing.
Each institute must develop a well-equipped central computer facility primarily for high-end computing which is not likely to be available in departments/centres. This facility should also be available for other services requiring specialised or high-volume processing.
Central research
The universities identified for upgradation must set up a central research facility housing sophisticated major equipment and systems. IIESTs must establish a modern lecture hall complex with adequate number of lecture theatres of varying capacities equipped with audio-visual facilities, network connectivity, multimedia presentation and virtual classrooms.
Budgetary allocation
The expert committee has given a budgetary recommendation to the tune of Rs.2,407.86 crore for the five institutions identified for upgradation into IIESTs during the period 2007-2012.
The proposed allocation is Bengal Engineering and Science University (Rs.519.55 crore); Institute of Technology, Banaras University (Rs.545.95 crore); Cochin University of Science and Technology (Rs.518.81 crore); Andhra University, College of Engineering (Rs.408.15 crore); and Osmania University College of Engineering and University College of Technology (Rs.415.40 crore).
The Hindu-Educationplus has reliably learnt that the joint meetings between the Central and State authorities concerned would be initiated soon to transform the existing institutions into IIESTs.
Once the necessary concurrence is obtained, a parliamentary Bill or an ordinance would be prepared to declare the institutions as institutes of national importance.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Education Plus
Kerala
