Expansion of "Brand IIT"

Well, this post is on IITs (the evergreen topic) and the Government... lets get serious...


I take up this topic first since, being an alumnus of IIT Madras myself; it is a topic close to my heart. Not long after a great man by the name of Dr. Manmohan Singh announced his intent to set up 8 new IITs, did lively discussions centered on this topic ensue in campuses. A lot of IITians I knew were against the move on grounds that it would lead to brand dilution. This is a very capitalist view. No particular brand is more important than the general welfare of a nation and its citizens. If creating more IITs leads to the collapse of brand IIT as we know it while at the same time providing high quality education to a larger population, then so be it. Arguing against setting up of new IITs on grounds of brand dilution is nothing but promoting inequality. If the country has the resources to provide quality technical education to all its citizens, then by all means it should do so.

A lot of people feel that the IITs will slip in educational rankings simply because they will not remain the coveted dream, which never becomes real for many, if more IITs are set up. Setting aside the argument that even if this were true, we must have more IITs; let me also say that this is in fact not true in the first place. A brand is successful and duly acknowledged if it provides quality in terms of infrastructure, faculty, course content and employment opportunities. As long as the IITs provide the same kind of education and infrastructure that they have provided in the past, there is no question of the brand name deteriorating. Setting up more IITs, it is expected, would never hinder the development of already existing IITs nor does it imply that the new IITs will not be on par with the older ones. As long as these criteria are satisfied, the brand name will never be diluted or deteriorated.

Do not get me wrong. I am against this move to set up new IITs as well, but my ground for opposition is very different. The most important issue against setting up more IITs is the fact that we do not at this point of time have the adequate infrastructure or faculty to extend quality education to a larger audience. First of all, the existing IITs themselves, despite being the epitome of quality technical education in India, fail to live up to the standards of the MITs and the Stanfords. Brand IIT is much hyped in India but one must realize that when it comes to infrastructure and faculty, the IITs are far behind even second grade institutes in the US and Europe. If we cannot find enough talent to teach a handful of students at the existing 7 IITs then it is highly unlikely that the 8 new ones can provide quality education on par with the existing ones.

The new IITs at first started operating from the campuses of the old institutes itself since the infrastructure for setting up of the new IITs was still not in place. Despite the fact that even the location site was not finalized for some of the proposed IITs, 6 of these proposed 8 IITs were made operational with immediate (June 2008) effect with blatant disregard to the difficulties which would be most likely faced by the students, merely in order to appear populist and gain political leverage. I wonder if the right adjective to describe this is hilarious or pathetic or just sad. The Indian institute of Technology, Hyderabad, operated from the campus of IIT Madras. First of all, the infrastructure at IIT Madras is inadequate to support a larger intake than the existing one. The faculty is not only inadequate on a quantitative level, but also on a qualitative level. More importantly, these students would be totally confused. They would not have a sense of belonging to the campus in the first place.

I still remember how I felt when we were told that we had no department for Biotechnology as yet when I joined IIT madras and when I was told that we will be operating out of the Mechanical Sciences Block. I along with 50 other young, enthusiastic individuals were totally clueless and confused as to what it means not to have a dedicated department for the major that we were going to pursue for the next 4-5 years. Imagine the plight of these kids who study in IIT Madras and are referred to as students of IIT Hyderabad! Shocking! Imagine the problems they would face involving relocation at a later point in time to another temporary setup. Comprehensive infrastructure and faculty arrangements commensurate with the reputation of IITs cannot be setup in less than 5-10 years. Until this time, perhaps, at least a couple of batches of students would have received their convocation degrees in a temporary buffalo shed. They would not have dedicated classrooms or labs or computing facilities much like us, when we joined the “Department of Biotechnology” at IIT madras in 2003. How lost, unwanted and deprived would one feel in that kind of an environment?

With new IITs operating out of the old campuses itself coupled with the OBC quota, the intake would certainly increase by over 50% in each of the existing IITs. However, when it comes to the number of faculty and the quality of faculty, it only keeps getting more abysmal by the day, with senior professors retiring and no one as good to replace them. With young, talented professors looking for greener pastures abroad or in the corporate world where salaries are unmatched even by “iconic” institutes like the IITs. The compensation offered to an Assistant (entry level) professor at IIT madras, who is a PhD holder, is less than that offered to a clerk in a PSU bank. Preposterous! How can the IITs expect to attract and retain quality faculty with such abysmal incentives on offer? The quality is being robbed out of the “quality education” that is promised by brand IIT.

This is where I have a problem. If we can provide quality education to a larger population then we must do so by all means. But, robbing the “quality education” of its quality and providing low quality education to a larger pool of highly talented individuals is not acceptable. It is nothing but cheating those dreamy eyed young, enthusiastic leaders of tomorrow in the garb of socialism and equality. The bottom line is that we are not ready yet. We first need to reform the higher education system in the country in order to attract and retain quality faculty. We need to setup adequate infrastructure before taking the plunge forward. The choice comes down to having 7 high quality technical education providing institutes or having 15 mediocre/average technical education providers. I vote for the former. I hope I have convinced you to do the same.

We need to move ahead one step at a time. In the last 40-50 years we have seen the addition of only 1 new IIT, IIT Guwahati (IIT Roorkee which was already an established center of educational excellence was merely granted the brand name of IIT). IITs cannot be setup overnight, not in the kind of bureaucratic environment which prevails in this country at this point in time. The goal must be more sobering and realistic, like setting up one new IIT every 2 years from this year forth until each state in this country has an IIT campus. This in itself would be a challenge of gigantic proportions, a goal which would require immense dedication to the cause of promoting higher education in this country. The quality must not be robbed from education, instead it must be enhanced and every new IIT established must become a role model, a benchmark for excellence, which the already existing IITs too must pursue to reach.

I guess that was enough seriousness for a post :P; and if any of you has a difference of opinion, please do comment on it, so that we can probably have a small discussion where we can share ideas.

The next post would be on a topic which we've started but left unattended... Reservations!!! (Another hot topic :D).

Till then... tc... ciao

Government And Education

I would like to post a series of articles (as putting the whole thing in a single post would make the reader sleepy, which is not my aim) which present my views, ideas and suggestions on the role of the Government in Education. These series of articles discuss about education in the present scenario, and lead to a finale I've come up to.

Here i go... :)

I lay grave importance on education since I honestly believe that it is the most powerful force, something which is capable of inspiring change in any society, in any nation. It is an absolute necessity for the social, economic and political upliftment and equality of every individual, although in isolation it might not be sufficient. It has always been one field that has never attracted adequate attention from either the government or the general public, since it is a long term solution to the problems of this nation and not one that can be achieved in the immediate term, not something that can win votes in the upcoming election. Education not only provides a consistent source of income via employment to an individual, but also improves vastly the productivity of a nation as a whole, and more importantly makes us better human beings.

The education I refer to here does not merely end at acquiring knowledge of the various fields of life such as sciences, social or natural or geographical, nor does it merely mean literacy, but more importantly refers to the imbibing of moral values and ethics in individuals. It is not a surprise that more educated societies and countries in this world have a far better life style and life expectancy, neither is it baffling that these societies are far less corrupt and more humane compared to ones where there is a drought of quality education. It is surprising however, that a force as powerful and important as education is often neglected. Free power and construction of temples win elections in this country, but never will someone who vouches for quality primary education be taken seriously. Well perhaps not “never”. I guess that is the hope with which I write this piece.

Off late one has seen a substantial amount of participation from the current government at least on the higher education front in this nation. Quotas in higher education for various communities in IITs, IIMs, NITs, IIITs, etc and the establishment of a large number of new institutes (read IITs) that promise to perpetrate top quality technical education are some initiatives that have been much talked about. However, like most governments in the past, this government has also not given adequate importance to primary and secondary education.

I hope this sets up the mood well for the coming posts... will continue with Higher Education (read IITs et.al.) in my next post.