Students of engineering colleges other than Indian Institute of Technology can now attend a full semester at IIT-Gandhinagar. The institute, in 2019, will be aggressive in reaching out to colleges in India and abroad, welcoming students attend classes at IITGn. The idea of the initiative is to make other students understand the academic culture of IIT. The issue was also discussed at the 8th Academic Advisory Council (AAC) meet, where experts from India and abroad suggested the institute to be aggressive with this initiative.
Professor Sudhir Jain, Director, IIT-Gn said, "Not many students can make it to IIT. But with this initiative, we want students from other institutes to come and attend classes like our IIT students for the entire semester. This will also broaden their horizon and practices can be shared."
The idea to start this initiative was to change the notion of IITs being exclusive. We want IIT to be inclusive and transparent and hence few years ago, we had started this initiative. But our reach was quite low and even now not many know about the programme. Hence the experts felt that this is a very powerful tool to engage with students from outside and suggested us to be aggressive with this programme", he added.
The students will have to pay fees of IIT-Gn for the entire semester and follow rules and guidelines of IIT. After completion of their semester, they will be given a certificate from the institute and then they can return to their college. AAC, professor Jain said that experts also suggested a strong network of peer learning and including parental intervention in dealing with academically weak students.
A total of 33 participants from India and overseas, including members from IIT-Gn, brainstormed, analyzed and deliberated on key issues to strategise and design leadership ideas for the institue.
The participants also engaged in giving suggestions on systems and policies for long term stability and continuity in the institute as it continuously evolves. They proposed to create a system from the grassroot level to address various needs to become better and stronger. It was agreed upon that freedom with accountability is crucial and can be achieved by creating an eco-system for the better outcome.
IDEA BEHIND
- Professor Sudhir Jain, Director, IIT-Gn said, “Not many students can make it to IIT. But with this initiative, we want students from other institutes to come and attend classes. This will broaden their horizon and practices can be shared.”
- The students will have to pay fees of IIT-Gn for the entire semester and follow rules and guidelines
