Some details on the proposed 20 IIITs across the country
August 29th, 2008
Following are excerpts from a report in livemint.com.
In the new IIITs, the government is actively considering a model where a majority stake goes to the private sector, while reducing the government to a minority shareholder. So, on an equity base of Rs30 crore, the government would get Rs14.90 crore maximum; and industry, Rs15.10 crore minimum.
“This is where the concept of autonomy begins. Even IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) and IITs, which are autonomous institutes, can’t decide on fees and number of seats without government approval because they are dependent on it for grants,” said Rajdeep Sahrawat, vice-president of industry lobby group National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), who led the drafting of the detailed project report on IIITs.
The government is also looking at a loan model, prepared by Nasscom, for IIITs to be set up as autonomous bodies, where the government would give loans to the institutes—and not grant funds—to be paid back over 10 years after a five-year moratorium.
The partners in setting up these IIITs would be the HRD ministry, the governments of the respective states where each institute will be established and industry members.
The committee member said it is hoping the model has no management quota. “There will be a board of governors that will decide policy matters for the institutes, and have representations from academia, industry and government,” this person said.To further clip government interference, the board of governors at these IIITs will have just one government representative, based on the policy of “one seat per investor”.
“Each institution should have three-four industry partners, with a pedigree for research. Even the age of the people to be appointed to the governing board can’t exceed 70 years,” the member said.
With a focus on research, the new IIITs will also have a faculty-student ratio of 1:10, as in IITs. While Nasscom’s public-private partnership model for the new IIITs skips any mention of reservations for students from backward classes, a provision for merit-cum-means scholarships for the students is proposed, where an institute is granted subsidy from the government for the scholarships granted.
This, however, continues to be the toughest call for the government. “The industry wants merit to be the sole criteria, but the government would like to push through reservations, as applicable in other educational institutions. However, the IIITs would have some kind of a relaxation of marks for students from certain backward classes,” the member said.
Entry Filed under: Berhampur-Gopalpur-Hinjilicut area (3),IIIT, Berhampur (proposed),NITs, IIITs
2 Writeup
1. Siba Prasad | August 29th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Orissa Government must move fast in setting up the IIIT campus at Berhampur. With the STPI in place and IT and Commercial complex is coming up under PPP mode this institute would give fillip for student-industry interface and with lot of engineering colleges around Berhampur, the climate is just right to unveil the second IT destination of Orissa. Some time back, Mr Ramalingam Raju of Satyam computers on record said that his company is interested in opening its center at Berhampur, once the STPI is in place. So, they must be brought in to take care of the funding for the IIIT as outlined by NASSCOM.
2. Angel | September 24th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Certainly all efforts should be mustered to garner full support to establish an IIIT in precinct of Berhampur. City’s cost factor, properly well connected via road/rail, abundant recreational man-made/natural places, etc those are determining factor for a majority of students from middle class family should be highlighted. Organisations such as gov, private, public should not only earnestly attempt to close these deals at the earliest but also deliver on time and within budget.