IIT model ought to be replicated
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It has two pillars: complete autonomy and relatively generous funding
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Shreesh Chaudhary
IITs are good colleges. IIT Madras, for instance, has Olympic size facilities for many games and sports. It has a room for nearly every student. Every student here has 18-hour internet connection daily. Many students publish in journals worldwide. IITM has a well-stocked and well-maintained library.
No teacher here awards marks on the basis of caste or region, nor has any student tried to bribe or beat a teacher. Students are sure of their opportunities after education here. Year after year IITs have conducted national level entrance examinations without a scandal. In no faculty or any other appointment here has ever there been a case of malpractice. In an Afro-Asian country, this itself is a huge thing.
But IITs are not many other things people imagine. They are not the last word in excellence, not yet. All its students are not crème de la crème, nor are they terribly interested in engineering. Without parental pressure,
many would be studying sciences or arts, and would be happier. But then there are no comparable colleges teaching sciences, arts and humanities.
Not all IIT students go to America, and it is not for not trying. It is also not that only those who go to America do well. Those studying and working here are not God’s chosen. They have done no earth-shaking work. Contrary to the hope of the founding fathers, they have found no solutions to India’s problems of poverty, communication, transport, housing, power, water and food.
Some cynics can say that not even a key on the keyboard of a computer has been altered because of them. Most members of faculty at all IITs are not graduates of IITs themselves; they come from lesser places, though later many acquired some learning and teaching experience abroad. They are average human beings, with a little greater than average motivation to achieve. And they have achieved recognition for producing graduates acceptable worldwide.
The credit for the excellence of IITs should go to the system underlying it. This system has two pillars — complete autonomy, and relatively generous funding.
Let us take the funding first. For about 5,000 students and 400 teachers, IIT Madras gets nearly Rs. 100 crore per annum. Even if put together, all universities in Tamil Nadu or in Bihar, with several times more students and teachers, get less.
Besides, IITs earn through consultancy and receive donations from their alumni. They also attract international funding. IIT Madras may not be rolling in money, but it can meet its needs and some fancies. Its faculty may not be getting salaries as in Massachusetts, Singapore, Tokyo or Toronto, but their working environment and the autonomy they enjoy make those salaries a less important factor in career choice. For conferences and researches, they can go abroad. They can buy a book or a laptop.
The other pillar of the IIT system is its autonomy. Reporting to the President of India, Visitor or Chancellor to all IITs, IITs have managed to escape politicians. Ministers have tried to interfere, but the Presidents have used their position and the trust reposed in them to save this their sacred charge. The IITs, therefore, work unhindered; and so do all their departments, laboratories, hostels, libraries, every unit and individual running them. They know their rights and duties, privileges and responsibilities, and enjoy those privileges and discharge those responsibilities without fear or favour.
Transparency
Autonomy of this kind entails transparency. Most people at IITs know why they have got what they have got. Students get their answer scripts back and know why they have got more or less marks than others. It has promoted healthy competition between individuals and groups at IITs. There is nothing else to the IITs. With these two, most universities and colleges would do as well.
The IIT model has been successful. It ought to be replicated. India can have a hundred IITs, teaching arts, business, humanities, sciences and engineering. Let similar colleges of excellence appear in sciences and humanities. That will end all acrimonious debate about reservation versus merit; that will provide deserving and desirous people world-class opportunities.
There is enough money in the country, we just need to reallocate. Maybe take from Defence and give it to MHRD. IITs could be permitted to recruit faculty worldwide, if enough of the suitable ones are not available at home. We will have to get out of the mindset of “Saare jahaan se achchhaa...” A world class institution, just as a world class nation, must draw from the world, must be its aggregate.
(The writer is Professor, HSS Department, IIT Madras)
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