IIT-Gandhinagar now has National recognition, can confer degrees

Courtesy a bill passed by The Parliament on Friday, Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar  (IIT-Gn) can now confer graduation degrees to the first batch of its students. IIT-Gn was also recognised as an institute of national importance.

"As IITs are not functioning as per University Grants Commission (UGC) act or any other state legislation, they have been empowered to award degrees to the students by an act of the Parliament, which was passed during Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure as prime minister in 1960s," said Sudhir Jain, director - IIT-Gn.

The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill of 2011, which was already passed by the Rajya Sabha seeks to recognise eight new IITs in Bhubaneshwar, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Mandi, Patna and Ropar. It also entails integration of Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University within the ambit of the Act.

The Parliament on Friday passed two key bills that will make it possible for students of Indian Institutes of Science Education receive their degrees. Also, the eight new IITs received their status as premier institutes of technological studies and IIT-Gn is a part of them.

"With convening of new IITs, they are being brought under this act of parliament so that they can also confer degrees to their students. IIT-Gn technically was not allowed to award degrees, but with its inclusion in the act, now we can confer degrees to our students," he added.

As per the bill, all these institutions shall be declared institutions of national importance.

Apart from the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill of 2011, Rajya Sabha has also passed National Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2010 which declares certain institutions as institutions of national importance. It also seeks to add five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (in Kolkata, Pune, Mohali, Bhopal and Trivandrum) as institutions of national importance.