Old IITs Vs New IITs

In 2008 UPA government set up 8 new IITs across the country as promised

• IIT Mandi (Himachal Pradesh),
• IIT Jodhpur (Rajasthan),
• IIT Gandhinagar (Gujarat),
• IIT Ropar (Haryana),
• IIT Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh),
• IIT Indore (Madhya Pradesh),
• IIT Bhuwaneshwar (Odisha)
• IIT Patna (Bihar)

The expansion was carried out to provide quality education of the standard available at the IITs across the country. almost five years are over now but still we can’t compare new IITs with old IITs. Some of the major differences among them are listed out as below:

1. Lack of faculty experienced faculty at new IITs

Its been four years since their establishments but they haven’t had any consequential successes. Seven out of the eight new institutions are yet to attract almost half the number of teachers that the central government had expected them to.

For instance, IIT-Ropar and IIT-Mandi, which is the youngest of all new IITs, haven’t filled 49 per cent and 53 per cent of permanent faculty positions, respectively.

Though the effect of this may not affect the teaching of programmes so much – as the lack of teachers is being made up with temporary appointments, adjunct and guest faculty – the shortage has contributed in stunting the growth in the number of programmes offered and, consequently, the number of students.

2. Remote Location

The remote locations of the new IITs result in lack in recruitments of teachers. It is highly improbable that a good teacher would want to join them when the connectivity is poor and the city/town doesn’t offer good job opportunities to his or her spouse and good schooling options for his or her kids.

Even four years after their establishment, directors of the new IITs continue to function out of their temporary campuses. With the exception of IIT-Mandi and IITBhubaneswar, the remaining institutes continue to miss their target of beginning timely construction at the permanent campus sites.

3. Lack of infrastructure

All of the new IITs are operating out of rented buildings, makeshift camps and campuses of other polytechnics or engineering colleges. None of them are likely to meet the deadline of June 2013 set for moving into fully operational campuses. The first batch of students, set to pass out from new IITs this year, would have no real experience of life in an IIT campus.

These campuses lack enough classrooms and different classes have to be accommodated in the same class. Under such dire conditions of infrastructure, a student’s over-all development does not occur – something that the older IITs boast of.

4. Difference in average package at IITs

Lesser number of students with lesser quality of faculty brings fewer optimum employment opportunities. These IITians deserve placements true to their tag, but employers find it inconvenient to visit these establishments at such remote places. They’d be willing to recruit more from other second-grade engineering institutions located in metros.

5. Lack of industrial and international experience

Since these institutes suffer from poor infrastructure and research facilities, international and industrial partnerships are still due. The new IITs being in a nurturing phase still require guidance from the older IITs for proper and lucrative methodology to attract institutions for proper experiences to their students.