At least 21 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are required for the advancement of technical education and the nation as a whole; just seven IITs cannot do it. The problem is not funds and infrastructure, but faculty crisis.

This was what Professor MS Ananth, director of IIT-Chennai, said at the IIT-Kanpur’s workshop of National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL).

The seven IITs constituted only 1 per cent of the total engineering education in the country, Ananth told The Indian Express. “As far as faculty crisis is concerned, the number of engineering graduates produced in India every year is seven times the number in the US. But the number of PhD scholars is one-seventh,” he added. The gap is the main reason for faculty shortage.

Engineering students get lucrative jobs after completing their BTech, so few opt for higher studies, he said. “BTech graduates from my institute get a salary equivalent to mine,” he added, underlining the need to encourage students to opt for higher education.

Regarding the increasing suicides in IITs, he said most were the outcome of the family problems and not institutional.

Vice Chancellor of Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU), Prem Vrat, the chief guest, said the availability of IIT study material on television channels, Internet and compact discs will hugely benefit engineering students elsewhere. The university, he said, will extend all possible support to make NPTEL-initiated web and video courses available to all.

Talking about the reform plans by UPTU, he said the university will declare its results by June 25 every year, so students can apply for various competitive exams.

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