New Delhi: The first IIT Council meeting
under the chairmanship of HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday is
expected to frame a multi-pronged policy, including
introducing scholarships and reducing of fee, to attract more
foreign students at post-graduate level in the institutes.
The council will also decide on allowing the prestigious
IITs to create extra seats for foreign students at PG level to
ensure that youths from other countries take part in research
and development in a big way.
At present, foreign students have to pay a much higher
amount of money than their Indian counterparts as fee. There
are two different fee structures -- one for the students of
SAARC countries and another for the students of other nations.
However, both the fee regimes entail to much more spending
than what the Indian students pay, an IIT director said.
The number of foreign students are very less in the IITs,
mainly because of the high fees.
"IITs attract mainly students from the developing
countries. These students find it difficult to pay the huge
amount and develop a cold feet on coming here," he said.
The council will ratify the revised pay structure of the
IIT faculty. The new pay structure had attracted criticism
from the IIT faculty which went on a hunger strike on
September 25.
Sibal met representatives of IIT faculty which was
demanding removal of 40 percent cap on promotion of
professors to senior grade. The faculty demanded abolition of
contractual appointment at entry level.
The minister told them that the government "guidelines
are just norms and there can be flexibility or relaxation in
exceptional cases".
The Council will also discuss giving more autonomy to the
elite institutes. Sibal has said that the government is ready
to give more autonomy if the IITs come up with a vision plan
for next five years and achieve them.
The IIT Council will also discuss the issue of the
possible impact of the foreign institutes which will be
allowed under the proposed Foreign Education Providers Bill.
The elite institutes are apprehensive that they may lose
their faculty to the foreign institutes which may offer fat
salary to the teachers.
They have been demanding a level-playing field between
the foreign universities and the Indian institutes.
The council will deliberate on how to attract faculty to
join the IITs. These institutes are facing a shortage of
faculty up to 30 percent.
IIT Council is the highest decision making body for the
elite institutes.
Bureau Report
