IIT Directors’ performance to be evaluated annually
There will be an annual performance evaluation of the Directors of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for enhancing accountability. The IITs have also agreed to open themselves to an internal process of accreditation in order to get into the Washington Accord, an agreement among bodies responsible for accrediting engineering programmes.
The Accord has 15 permanent members. India is a provisional member.
Accreditation of other institutes is done by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), but IITs will hold their own review and it will be left to the NBA to accept or reject the internal review.
This was announced by the Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju after the 47th meeting of the Council of IITs here on Monday.
The Board of Governors (BoG) of the respective IITs would review the performance of the Directors for more accountability. The Boards would submit their report to the Human Resource Development Ministry. The IITs have agreed to this proposal, the Minister told reporters.
The low global ranking of the IITs was discussed at length at the meeting. It was said that although the undergraduate engineering programmes of the IITs were some of the best ones offered globally, on composite indicator rankings, there was scope for improvement. The focus was now on augmenting research, and a number of measures were approved to encourage students to enrol in Ph.D programmes, Mr. Raju said.
He blamed the IITs for not being able to sell their brand in the global market as a result of which their global rankings were low. He said it appeared that there was a gap in the information sought by global agencies and information provided to them. “We have a committee of directors, which is now talking to QS World University Rankings to understand their methodology and we are hopeful of improving the ranking next year.”
Internal review of IITs – every five years – would be much more stringent than the accreditation process itself. A peer review would meet the requirements of the Washington Accord, under which signatories to the accord recognised each other’s degrees. India was keen to join this group.
The development would also encourage other institutes, including private ones, to emulate IITs feat and improve the quality of teaching.
The Directors were expected to be reviewed against the challenges faced by the IITs such as leveraging of resources, increasing research base and self-sufficiency in finances, among others, the Minister said.
The Accord has 15 permanent members. India is a provisional member.
Accreditation of other institutes is done by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), but IITs will hold their own review and it will be left to the NBA to accept or reject the internal review.
This was announced by the Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju after the 47th meeting of the Council of IITs here on Monday.
The Board of Governors (BoG) of the respective IITs would review the performance of the Directors for more accountability. The Boards would submit their report to the Human Resource Development Ministry. The IITs have agreed to this proposal, the Minister told reporters.
The low global ranking of the IITs was discussed at length at the meeting. It was said that although the undergraduate engineering programmes of the IITs were some of the best ones offered globally, on composite indicator rankings, there was scope for improvement. The focus was now on augmenting research, and a number of measures were approved to encourage students to enrol in Ph.D programmes, Mr. Raju said.
He blamed the IITs for not being able to sell their brand in the global market as a result of which their global rankings were low. He said it appeared that there was a gap in the information sought by global agencies and information provided to them. “We have a committee of directors, which is now talking to QS World University Rankings to understand their methodology and we are hopeful of improving the ranking next year.”
Internal review of IITs – every five years – would be much more stringent than the accreditation process itself. A peer review would meet the requirements of the Washington Accord, under which signatories to the accord recognised each other’s degrees. India was keen to join this group.
The development would also encourage other institutes, including private ones, to emulate IITs feat and improve the quality of teaching.
The Directors were expected to be reviewed against the challenges faced by the IITs such as leveraging of resources, increasing research base and self-sufficiency in finances, among others, the Minister said.
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