From this year,two B.Techs from IIT-K in just one more year

A student wishing to pursue B.Tech course in an additional stream will have to inform the IIT-K authorities between the second and sixth semesters. Depending on the student’s performance,the authorities will decide whe-ther to approve the request or not. If approved,the student will get an additional year — after completing the four-year B.Tech course in one stream — to pursue the degree in the second stream.

Confirming this,IIT-K director Sanjay Govind Dhande said there have been many students who find out that they have better opportunities in a different stream. “Our initiative will definitely come as a major boost to such students,” he said.

“This change will be applicable only for new students who get admission from 2011-12,” he said. “This will be the first time when an IIT will be awarding B.Tech. degrees to a student in two different streams in a span of five years,” Dhande added.

At present,the institute offers B.Tech. programmes in nine different streams: Aerospace Engineering,Bio Sciences and Bio Engineering,Chemical Engineering,Civil Engineering,Computer Science and Engineering,Electrical Engineering,Industrial and Management Engineering,Mechanical Engineering,and Materials and Metallurgical Engineering.

In another major move,the institute has cut down the M.Tech. course by a year. This means that B.Tech. students who wish to pursue the masters’ degree in the same stream can do so by spending just one additional year. At present the institute runs a two-year M.Tech. course.

Moreover,the five-year integrated M.Sc. course will also be replaced by a four-year integrated B.Sc. course from the new academic sessions. Students who wish to pursue M.Sc. will have to spend an additional year.

According to Dhande,the IIT-K has formed an Academic Programme Review Committee (APRC) comprising of senior faculty and staff members to keep in touch with the changing education trends across the world.

“On the APRC’s recommendations,we bring about the required changes in our educational format once every decade,” he said. The changes announced by IIT-K in the B.Tech.,M.Tech. and M.Sc. courses will be applicable till 2020. “Following the concept of integrated engineering,we have brought about the changes in different courses,” said Dhande.

“Students are given credit points for attending lecturers,completing assignments on time,attending practical classes and extra-curricular activities. Only those students who live up to our expectations will be given permission to pursue B.Tech. in two courses or complete M.Sc. and M.Tech. in five years,” said Dhande. “The requests of student getting between 390 credits and 430 credits during their course will be entertained. The selected students will be asked to collect additional 100 credits before they get our final nod.”