Finally,IIT tag for IT-BHU

Unlike other IITs that are autonomous,BHU Vice-Chancellor has been made chairman of the board of directors of IIT,BHU for three years. “Subsequently,he will nominate either himself or any of his nominees as vice-chairman so that there is a permanent linkage between the IIT and the BHU,” Kapil Sibal,Minister of Human Resource Development,told the House.

Sibal also said that two members of board of directors of IIT (BHU) will also be sent by the Executive Council of BHU and three members shall also be nominated by the Executive Council of the BHU to the Senate of IIT,BHU.

“We wanted to maintain the integrity of the Banaras Hindu University. We also wanted to maintain the linkage between the two (the university and IIT),and we also wanted to ensure the cross-disciplinary research through this integrative,administrative set-up,” Sibal said in the Rajya Sabha,adding: “As the campus is next door,naturally,there will be a lot of synergy between what is happening in Banaras Hindu University and in the IIT,BHU.”

While IT-BHU was to be given the status of IIT along with eight new IITs being established in the country,the Bill was not passed in both the houses of Parliament with students of all these eight new IITs as well as IIT-BHU waiting for their degrees. The last two batches of BHU,which passed out in 2010 and 2011,respectively,have been issued provisional degrees by the varsity. “The market prospects of such a degree (that of IIT) are always greater,and,so,the parents and the children are waiting for this,” Sibal told the House while tabling the bill.

“We will handing over the degrees to students of 2010,2011 as well as 2012 in this year’s convocation,” said Prof Lalji Singh,Vice-Chancellor,BHU.

“The IIT status will also improve the quality of faculty members and bring in grants for better research in the institute,” said Dr Singh. “We will become the first IIT in the country which will have the benefit of various other institutes working in close proximity with each other and it will help in inter-disciplinary and translational research,” he said.

“We also expect to get students with better rank who otherwise chose IITs,” said Prof J N Sinha,Director,IT-BHU. As of now,IT-BHU is a well-established institute with 9 engineering departments,three applied science departments,three schools and a pharmacy institute and more than 5000 students,said Sinha.