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IIT-B plans to become tech varsity, double student intake

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: Imagine a whopping 20,000 student population on the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) campus. That’s not a pipe dream but an achievable target for the centre of excellence as it aims to double its intake.
Outlining the scope of the institute’s plans for the next half of the century, professor of aerospace engineering K Sudhakar presented a vision statement on the second day of the international vice-chancellors’ conclave: “We are looking at growing in terms of discipline— more like a University of Technology.’’ There is also a plan to increase student intake to 15,000-20,000 from the current 8,000.
While the institute director Ashok Misra said broadening IIT-B to a fullfledged university would be difficult, “offering economics and some other subjects like MIT University, as well as growing to a technological university could be a distant possibility.’’ What is holding back the institute currently, Misra said, was the lack of infrastructure. “This campus cannot accept more students and we are keen on a second one. However, the government is not in favour of the idea and they are more keen on setting up new IITs.’’
On a personal level, Misra said he is against the idea of setting up new IITs. According to him, a lot has gone into the making of the IIT brand and the government is free to set up new institutions. The IITs could help them incubate, but the institutions could be named differently. “Let’s keep the excellence,’’ he said. However, Misra said that the seven IITs must be expanded.
In the last 12 years, the Powai school has doubled its capacity. A tutorial that had about 15 students, now sees an attendance of 30. “Earlier, we knew every student’s name. That intimacy is already lost,’’ pointed out Misra. But, with over 3 lakh students taking the entrance test, “taking in only 4,000 is also a crime,’’ he added.
Interestingly, the IIT-B alumni office that has been putting together a directory of graduates who have passed out of this institute, said of the 30,000 scholars who have walked out of the Powai institute’s portals, merely 7,500 are based out of India. “Just as TOI had reported last year, most students were right here in the country, many were on their way back,’’ said Pradipto Banerjee, dean (alumni affairs and international relations).