Why have CET when nothing is common between IITs and the rest?

The most compelling argument against the proposed Common Entrance Test to all engineering institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Information Technology and the National Institutes of Technology is that the academic structure of the IITs is so vastly different from that of the others that a common admission test will not be in a position to select the right type of students to fit into the IIT culture, which is quite unique. If the IITs have been standing tall in the academic world for over six decades, it is only due to the academic freedom the teachers and the taught alike enjoy in the most conducive ambience, apart from the high quality of students admitted and professors with excellent credentials.

IIT students enjoy the freedom of choosing courses of their liking that are offered in any other department(s), without exceeding the stipulated total credits, to enhance their employment potential besides improving their technical background. Thus, geology students who are well versed in many areas of application take a few courses in digital remote sensing and other computer-based courses to score over the system analysts in job-interviews.

They are taken into committees that ratify the course contents and are given a say in them. More significantly, they are asked to evaluate their professors anonymously at the end of each semester and their confidential feedback is passed on to the instructors for course corrections if any. A few students are made members of the IIT Senate, the supreme decision-making body.

The IITs have several committees comprising senior professors to continuously monitor the progress of each student with a view to helping the ones who lag behind. No fooling around is tolerated and those who are found failing repeatedly are simply asked to leave the institutes.

As for the professors, they have a lighter teaching load per week, which may be about six hours of lectures in two courses and one practical of three hours, unlike other institutions. This allows plenty of free time for them to carry out their research and attend to professional consultation jobs. It is, however, in the drafting of the contents of their courses that they teach and in the mode of assessment of their students that IIT professors are given total freedom. There are no ‘Board of Studies’ with external members in them to formulate the contents of the courses — the ‘syllabi’ as they are called elsewhere. The privilege of drafting the syllabi of the various courses is vested in them since the IITs quite rightly believe that they are the best judges of what they teach. The professors consider this trust reposed in them as a great encouragement and so come out with their best for the benefit of their students. In addition, they are asked to conduct the examinations for the students themselves in their own classrooms where they feel perfectly at home. They hold three tests spread over a semester for 50 marks and one test at the end of the semester for another 50 marks. Grades are awarded to the students within two days and the whole system is so transparent that the students can question their professors on their grades if they are not satisfied.

All these and several other aspects are alien to the other engineering institutions and are unique only to the IITs. Therefore, it is only proper that the IITs are permitted to conduct their own admission tests without forcing a common entrance test down their throats since there is nothing common between the institutions that are being clubbed together for admission.

The writer is former professor of geology, IIT Bombay