IITs have decided to increase the number of seats in various courses for admitting “non-resident students” with an aim to take their total intake to one lakh by 2020. An official said, at present, the IITs have around 72,000 students in their undergraduate, postgraduate or doctorate courses which are residential.
In a meeting of the IIT Council headed by Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar yesterday, in-principle approval was given to the proposal for admitting non-resident students. The authorities of different IITs will now undertake an exercise to fix the number of additional students they can accommodate.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Javadekar announced that the IIT Council has also approved a proposal to introduce the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowships. The move is aimed at encouraging IITians passing out of B.Tech to enroll in Ph.D courses straightaway. Another decision taken by the council is to introduce an induction course to help new students adjust as they join these institutes after a rigorous competitive examination.