Telecom school plans new courses

Started in 2000, the Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management, a joint initiative of Bharti Foundation and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, is all set launch a host of new programmes like internship, distance-learning, executive and post-doctoral programmes. Most of these are likely to commence by the next academic session.

The school has already instituted 10 seats for Doctorate in philosophy (PhD) in Telecom Systems Management and a Master of science (MS) research programme in Telecom Technology and Management, this year.

"The new programmes are under various stages of planning. They will have to be approved by several bodies before they are announced. We hope to introduce some of these programs by the academic year 2008-09," said Rakesh Mittal, vice-chairman, Bharti Enterprises.

The internship programmes will involve under-graduate and post-graduate students who will spend a semester working on a project at Bharti School IIT-Delhi. The students will need to register as casual students of IIT-Delhi with prior permission from their parent institute.

"We are yet to complete the planning for implementation of distance-learning and executive programmes. These will involve lectures delivered in a tele-studio in Bharti School and broadcast using Internet protocol (IP) or very small aperture terminal (VSAT) technology to classrooms outside IIT-Delhi," Mittal added.

In the post-doctoral programmes, the students will engage with outstanding young researchers who have recently completed their doctoral thesis. The school will either invite or nominate guest faculty from researchers and teachers who have made outstanding contributions in the field of telecom and strongly allied areas.

These initiatives, Mittal stated, will help them to teach classes, guide projects and collaborate with existing faculty on areas of common research.

Presently, the entry into all programmes of the school, namely Masters of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Technology (MTech.) and others is done as per IIT's regular admission procedures.

The entry into M. Tech program is on the basis of Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) scores and interview. The admission to the MBA programme is on the basis of the Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET), followed by an interview. The entry into MS- Research and PhD programmes is on the basis of marks and interview.

The school is in the process of working out the modalities of entrance examination for all the new programmes.