Structural revamp at IIT Kharagpur

In order to revitalise the organisational structure and devolve authority, top engineering institute IIT Kharagpur has started a major organisational revamp to be in league among global peers.

IIT-Kharagpur director Partha Pratim Chakrabarti told PTI that they were working on a major organisational restructuring where more autonomy would be given to heads of different departments.

Industrialist Arjun Malhotra, chairperson of the institute's "Vision 2020" initiative, said structural changes were needed in the way the IIT functioned.

Under its Vision 2020, the IIT has set up an ambitious vision to be among the top 20 international science and technology-focused institutes with a culture of research excellence.

While it has consistently been at the top among Indian institutes, IIT-Kharagpur lags behind its global and Asian peers in rankings.

Governance and administration has been identified as one of the thematic areas for leading the transformation. "The organisational structure needs to be re-vitalised to reduce the administrative pressure on the director and devolve authority to the deputy/assistant director and deans. More than half of the director's time should be focused on external linkages (collaborations, brand building, alumni, fund raising, etc)," recommends the Vision 2020 report.