Foreign students, medical courses likely in IITs

NEW DELHI - Foreign students and faculty, medical courses and a new pattern for entrance exams are among the reforms planned for Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said Friday.

Talking to reporters after a nearly three-hour-long meeting of the council of IITs, Sibal said the decisions were taken to bring IITs at par with the international institutes and to make them global in every sense.

\”It was in principle agreed that IITs will have foreign students as well as faculties,\” Sibal said.

Foreign students will be admitted only to post-graduate courses and their strength will be limited to 25 percent. The minister also informed that these admissions will not affect the present number of Indian students in IITs.

For the faculty, the minister said that consultations will be held with the home ministry to decided the modalities of allowing foreign teachers in IITs.

\”As security concerns are there, the mechanism to appoint foreign faculty will be decided in consultation with the home ministry,\” he said.

The strength of foreign faculty will be capped at 10 percent.

In another major decision, the minister said that medicine and medical research will be added to the field of IITs. The minister said that the decision was taken as the field of medicine involves large number of engineering techniques.

\”Appropriate amendment in the Indian Institute of Technology Act may be considered to enable IITs offer courses in medicine with the approval of the Medical Council of India,\” Sibal said.

He clarified that while the MCI approval will be needed for awarding medical degrees, it will not be needed for research in allied fields related to medical technology.

Sibal said IIT entrance exams needed an overhaul to discourage coaching institutes.

\”The present system of coaching must go as it is detrimental to the quality of intake,\” Sibal said.

\”Weightage will be given to class 12th exam marks, and that marks will be based on the performance through the year. It will automatically discourage coaching,\” he said.

The minister said a committee has been formed under Science and Technology Secretary T. Ramasami and it will submit its report in three months. \”After that we\’ll involve all IITs and have a full discussion,\” he said.

Sibal added that the IITs have said they wanted to continue with the joint entrance exam (JEE).

\”The IITs don\’t want to do away with the JEE but they have said that if an alternative is provided they will discuss it with their faculty,\” he added.

It was also decided to enable IITs to undertake broad-based collaboration with institutions across the world and start centres for policy studies to serve as advisory fora in such strategic