Report on IIT-like colleges in January

The committee considering the question of upgrading seven engineering institutions to the level of Indian Institutes of Technology would submit its report next month, a source in the Human Resources Development ministry said.

The institutions selected were the Institute of Technology, Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi; University College of Engineering combined with the University College of Technology, both belonging to Osmania University, Hyderabad; Bengal Engineering College, Howrah; Jadavpur University's Engineering and Technology departments; Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University; Andhra University College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam; and Cochin University of Science and Technology.

They were asked to submit a vision document each after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced in 2003 that more institutions would be added to the IITs.

The committee headed by Prof M Anand Krishnan and Prof A Ghosh and Prof DV Singh as its members was required to examine the vision documents submitted by these seven institutions, identify the gaps in resources and suggest a plan to upgrade these institutions.

This is one committee, which was not scrapped when the new United Progressive Alliance came to power. Its report is likely to be scrutinised closely by the government. Prof SK Joshi had identified the seven institutes and asked them to submit vision documents.

However, the Joshi committee had observed that all the institutions fell far below the level of existing IITs in all criteria used for short listing. It felt that it would not be correct to position these colleges straightaway alongside the IITs as doing so could dilute the stature of the premier institutes.

So a list of parameters was drawn up and the institutions were asked to prepare vision documents to argue why and how they could be treated on a par with IITs and in what aspect they were deficient.

The question is whether this move will in any way dovetail with the Indian industry's demand - which it will emphasise during Budget consultations - that the government gradually move out of higher education and make it easier for the industry to get into the field.

Whether a role for the private sector will be envisaged in the upgrading of these institutions for premier technical education remains to be seen.