The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were started with much fanfare and great expectations in the 1950s. These institutions are meant to be technical educational setups par excellence to turn out the best of engineers and technologists in the country.  Later on, the number of IITs were increased over the years and now there are 16 IITs in India.  Having existed for more than seven decades now, it is high time to evaluate whether IITs have met the expectations.

No doubt, the selection process of IITs are strict with entrance examinations and only the best of students get admitted in IITs, though the reservation policy has been introduced in IITs also. Crores of rupees have been invested in setting up IITs by the Government of India over the years and facilities and standards of staff are reasonably good, though still, they may not match the high standards of some of the similar institutions functioning in developed countries.

IITs being underutilized?

There is a view, which is gradually gaining credence, that IITs are being underutilized by providing graduate-level education.

On the other hand, it would be more appropriate to restrict the IITs for postgraduate studies, doctoral studies and postdoctoral studies. With the excellent facilities available and with such restricted levels of students undergoing only higher-level studies, probably these IITs would provide far better results and could also become some of the best institutions in the world. The view is that by providing graduate-level education, the facilities of IITs are being underutilised or used for the diluted purpose of admitting plus two students. There are hundreds of other institutions to do this in India.  

If IITs would be restricted only to a postgraduate and higher level of studies, the teacher-student ratio would become much improved and qualitative research at global standards would be possible.

Further, many people wonder why courses in humanity subjects and management courses should be taught in IITs, as they are not meant for this purpose.  One wonders whether IITs are losing their way and even importance to some extent.

Why IIMs are losing their shine?

Similar to IITs, another institution that seems to be losing its way are Indian Institute of Management (IIMs).

IIMs too was started with much fanfare and great expectations of turning out excellent managers and the number of IIMs have now increased to 20.  Apart from IIMs, several other institutions also offer management education.

Most of the students who join IIMs after passing out in tough and strenuous entry level examinations are, no doubt, brilliant young people with great potential.

Most of them join IIMs, without prior working experience and not knowing the ground realities relating to commercial, industrial and business enterprises.  IIMs turn out qualified managers with basic and rudimentary training and without imparting particular expertise in any domain area. As domain knowledge of a particular field has become extremely important to successfully manage any enterprise, IIM passed students without domain knowledge is often considered to be inadequate to take up challenging jobs in any specialized field.

There is no uniformity in the basic qualification of students admitted to IIMs and there is no uniformity in the type of field in which they take up jobs after passing out. This has created an element of confusion about the type of job profile for which the IIMs prepare the students.

There is a developing view that it would be appropriate if IIMs admit students after they have experience of at least three years in the job and the structure of IIM courses should be suitably redesigned that would be appropriate for several domain fields;  for example, managers for chemical industries or electronic industries or software functions etc. This would be more useful and productive, if IIMs would train managers for particular specialised domain fields, where they can deliver much better results and with greater confidence.

IAS: Jack of all trades and master of none?

A view of Indian Administrative Services (IAS) cadre is even more perplexing.

The best of people get into All India Services like IAS and they are given some specific training and posted in jobs. Like IIM trained managers, the IAS cadre is being trained as administrators. Again, this is a case of trained people who are the jack of all trades and master of none.

Many times, an IAS officer who works as a settlement officer for a few years is suddenly transferred as chief executive of a government-owned pharmaceutical company, on which the IAS cadre person really knows nothing.  He has to learn the rudiments of the job from his subordinates and then is supposed to manage the show for a short period of a few years, when this person may be transferred to another unrelated posting.

The IAS officers enjoy enormous powers and have huge responsibilities but are poorly equipped to function in technologically advanced conditions of today.

(The writer is a Trustee, NGO Nandini Voice for the Deprived, Chennai. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at nsvenkatchennai@gmail.com)