IITs fine-tuning seats available for programmes as per popularity

Some of the reputed Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), country’s premier technology institutes, are making changes in the number of seats in some of their courses, while also introducing new or interdisciplinary programmes so that they can follow the government order to plan their courses based on popularity and employability

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IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kanpur have planned to cut down the number of seats in unpopular courses so that popular ones can be given more seats. IIT-K is even planning to stop its nuclear engineering technology programme, since students don’t show much interest in that course.

"As the employment opportunities are limited under this programme, we are looking at merging this with mechanical engineering," Manindra Agrawal, deputy director at IIT Kanpur, told ET. "A call would be taken soon on this."

"Another reason for merging this programme with mechanical engineering is the fact that we have not been able to get teaching faculty," he added.

The institute is also dropping the number of seats it offers in metallurgical engineering, another non-popular course, so that more popular programmes can seat more students.

Talking of IIT-D, it is considering limiting the number of seats it offers for some non-popular streams in its BTech programmes.

"The popularity of a programme much depends on the employment prospects," said V Ramgopal Rao, director at IIT-D.

In IIT-Bombay, however, there is no issue of revision in seats allocation since all the seats get allotted in the joint counselling process. To follow government’s orders, it is considering launching new programmes, having already introduced BSc Economics and PhD in Centre for Policy Studies from the autumn session of 2017.

Like IIT-B, IIT Madras also has no plans to reduce the number of seats in any course, but is considering introducing new programmes.