)
The Narendra Modi government's decision to set up an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in every state does not seem to have gone down well with academia.
An IIT and IIM in every state means setting up 13 new IITs and 15 IIMs in the country. Instead, academia wants the Modi government to focus on improving the existing institutes by improving infrastructure and retaining talent by enhancing the pay package of faculty.
"Had the Modi government done a reality check and seen how the new IITs and IIMs set up in the past five years are grappling with shortage of faculty members and fund, they would have scrapped this idea. Thirteen new IITs would mean around 1,300 more qualified faculty members. Where can you get them from? The faculty positions are existing IITs itself are going vacant," said the director of an IIT on condition of anonymity.
For instance, of the 90 faculty posts at IIT-Jodhpur and IIT-Mandi, only 48 and 49 vacancies, respectively, have been filled. At IIT-Ropar, 38 posts are vacant. At IIT-Patna, 19 posts are vacant and 17 at IIT-Bhubaneswar. IIT-Gandhinagar still needs 14 faculty members to meet its sanctioned strength and IIT-Indore needs 13. Only IIT-Hyderabad has managed to fill 102 of the 105 faculty positions.
Even older IITs have over 41 per cent of their teaching posts vacant. Against the sanctioned strength of teaching staff of 5,356, there are only 3,158 in regular posts. Vacancy for teaching posts is the highest at IIT-Banaras Hindu University (57 per cent), followed by IIT-Delhi (50 per cent), IIT-Kharagpur (48 per cent) and IIT-Guwahati (42 per cent). At the remaining four IITs, vacant teaching positions range between 19 per cent and 38 per cent.
The technical institutes say that in the next five years, their consolidated doctorate programmes would help do away with the faculty shortage problem the institutes have been facing for years. However, the question of access remains. "Who will come to study or teach at an IIT located in a remote town? Will a remote town be able to provide means of education and vocation to the spouses? Which company would be willing to visit an IIT in small towns to recruit students?" asked the director of an IIT.
"If we could offer better salaries to our faculty members, we may not be losing PhD candidates whom we lose to the industry every year," the director added.
Although PhD enrolments are swelling, it has been a challenge for the IITs to attract youngsters to academics and research.
Added to this is the issue of ensuring campus placements. Last year, while new IITs could achieve a placement figure of between 79 and 92 per cent, older peers were not very well off, placing only 90-95 per cent of students.
More IIMs would mean diluting the brand equity of the present ones further. "Why not allow the existing IIMs to expand? They are not only a brand but have been in existence for five decades. Some are internationally accredited and rated, too," said an IIM director.
All IIMs put together offer 3,335 seats. IIM directors argue that the government should ease norms for private players to enter the education segment. "Many companies have the willingness and wherewithal to be a serious player in the education segment. Why not facilitate that? There are no gains by setting up more IIMs," said another IIM director.
Deriding the move, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: "IITs and IIMs in every state is a terrible idea and will dilute these institutions. There's a need to make existing IITs and IIMs world class."
