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Experts say that the government’s declaration on the expansion of the infrastructure in five new IITs and the AI center of excellence in education is a ‘welcome step’. But ‘funding needs to be maintained and projects should be executed in the way it should be’
According to experts, these are ‘welcome steps’, but at the same time ‘funding needs to be maintained and projects should be executed in the way it should be’. (Representative photo)
In an important push for higher education, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman on Saturday admitted 6,500 more students and to establish an artificial intelligence (AI) center of excellence in education (established after 2014) Announced to expand the structure. Budget for 2025-26.
AyraNews24x7 Talked to experts including the former and current IIT directors and faculty, including private sector people, to expand what it would mean for the higher education sector. He said that these are “welcome steps”, but at the same time “needs to maintain money and projects should be executed the way they should be”.
This step comes at a time when the total number of students in 23 IITs has almost doubled in the last decade. The Finance Minister, while presenting his eighth consecutive budget, said that the total number of students in 23 IITs has increased by 65,000 to 1.35 lakhs in the last 10 years.
“Additional infrastructure will be created in the five IITs installed after 2014 to adjust 6,500 and students. The capacity of hostels and other infrastructure will also be expanded in IIT-Patna, “he said in his budget speech.
Known as the third generation IITs, they were installed in Palakkad, Tirupati, Jammu, Dharwad, Bhilai and Goa after 2014. Some of these campuses are still in the process of manufacturing parts of their premises.
‘Budget according to Nap’
Speaking to the media after the budget, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that in the next five years, an additional 6,500 seats will be added to five IITs. “These seats will be added to the graduate students at the entry level,” he said.
He said: “The budget is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP). This will help promote research and innovation along with expansion of IIT system. The schemes announced, some of which fall under the Ministry of Education, will reach about 50% of the total students in India. ,
The current budget has increased by 9.92 percent in the allocation of resources for IITs, which is Rs 11,349 crore against Rs 10,324.50 crore in 2024-25. Senior officials of the ministry said that the seats would be expanded from next year as the infrastructure will also have to be promoted.
A senior official said that in IIT-Patna, only infrastructure will be promoted with more hostels and other facilities. “IIT-Goa is excluded because they have no campus yet,” the official said.
Experts hail IIT expansion step
Former Director of IIT-DELHI and Vice Chancellor (VC) of the current group, Pro in Bits Pilani campus. Very large intake by global universities.
Currently, the total strength of BTech students in 23 IITs is less than one lakh. It should be at least doubled over the next few years. “The expansion is a step in the right direction, but it should not only grow once as the intake is required to expand the intake. We have remained small in view of a large number of students so far. Rao said that there should be a roadmap for continuous increase in capacity in the coming years with the scale-up model, where the government aims to increase the annual growth with a simultaneous increase in the infrastructure, “Rao said.
He said that BTech students in 23 IITs every year are only 17,000, which accepts a single university in a year in competitive countries. Not only new IITs, old IITs also need to be expanded with extended complexes.
For example, IIT-DELHI has increased the complexes in Jhajjar and Sonpat, but there is no money to develop them as full complexes. Even IIT-Madras has an extended complex. He said, “This requires a lot of funding, as the older IITs need to be developed as full-development complexes where they can start with the first year,” he said.
Professor M Jagdish KMUR, Chairperson, University Grants Commission (UGC) said that the expansion of the infrastructure of five IITs and the construction of 5,000 additional seats would increase quality higher education for all.
“The budget to digitize the storage system for educational credit through the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) has also increased to Rs 16 crore,” he said.
He said that IIT-Madras Director Prof.
On the expansion of capacity in IITs, Haseen Dohadwal, Co-CEO, Crimson Schools said that this initiative is an important step towards meeting the growing demand for high quality technical education in India.
“By increasing features and capacity, we are not only creating more opportunities for aspirational engineers, but also ensuring that our institutions remain competitive globally,” he said.
‘India needs to be made for lost time in AI race’
The fourth AI center of excellence in education is in addition to three announced in agriculture, permanent cities and healthcare areas last year. Ministry officials said the fourth AI center is to be developed with a total outlay of Rs 500 crore, which aims to “revolution” from “pre-primary and research levels” to “revolution” from India’s educational system.
“By using artificial intelligence, it wants to address inequalities and disabilities ensuring justified and high quality education across the country. According to the widespread implementation of NEP 2020, this transformational initiative will integrate AI-operated innovations to increase teaching, evaluation and policy-making, “the ministry said in a statement.
With more attention to AI, Rao said that India needs more investment in the region as it has much to catch with countries such as China, America and some European countries. Rao said, “The government’s attention is a welcome step, the way it has been executed and extended with the same commitment.”
Prof. Arnab Bhattacharya, who taught computer science at IIT-Kanpur, shared Rao’s ideas how India needs to be made for lost time in the AI race. “The world is already AI-operated. We have talent and ability; We just need an organized push towards it. This is an important declaration, “he said.
Sitarman also announced that in the next five years, under the PM Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme, the government would provide 10,000 fellowships for technical research in IITs and with increased financial assistance to IISC.
“Today, there is uncertainty in research. We expect five years to work on a research problem. There is also a colleague pressure, as other graduate works in the industry to work well while research students are still in research. This is actually an important step for more students to promote research and invest their time, “Kamakoti said.
