Study trends in 2013

According to estimates in a report released by ASSOCHAM, nearly eight lakh Indian students spent over Rs 10,000 crore on overseas education in 2012-13. The report, titled ‘Funds flows out of India for Higher Education 2013’, reveals that the country needs quality institutes on the lines of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) for students wanting to pursue careers in management, accounting, engineering and chartered accountancy. Such an approach would not only restrict the outgo foreign exchange but also spread of global standards within the country increasing employability of the students in the industry and research institutions.

DS Rawat, secretary general, ASSOCHAM, called for deregulation of higher education and reversing the trend of brain drain by opening up a series of quality institutions with public private partnership, while commenting on the findings of the report.

Making a comparative analysis of the expenditure incurred by Indian students studying in India and those studying abroad, the report states that while an IIT student incurs an expenditure of USD 150 per month as fees, those opting to go abroad incur anywhere between USD 200-600, per month, in countries such as US, Canada, Australia and UK.

The report additionally adds that deregulation of the higher education sector will also make India a leading destination for students hailing from other developing countries. While USA tops the list with 82% enrollment in the higher education sector, countries with low enrollment in this space constitute Pakistan (5%), India (12%), China (20%) and Brazil (24%).

The report also finds that about 95% of all entrance exam takers in the IITs and IIMs do not make it due to capacity constraints in these institutes and end up taking admissions abroad. While currently there are about 900 million jobs in India, 90% of these are skill-based, requiring vocational training, 9% are knowledge based and only 1% require both knowledge and skills.

B-Schools hike stipends by 20% despite meltdown

Despite fears of an uncertain economic environment, students of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) expect a rise in stipends by 15-20 per cent during summer placements this year.

With leading companies showing a continued interest in hiring interns in spite of a meltdown, students are optimistic of drawing attractive offers. Nitin KV, recruitment coordinator with IIM Lucknow, said, "Besides long time recruiters, there are a lot of first timers as well. We expect that the stipends, particularly in consulting, marketing and general management sectors, will increase by 15-20 per cent this year."

IIM Ahmedabad is also looking forward to a robust summer placement season. "Students are looking forward to a good summer placement as we had attractive offers during final placements in March," a member of the student placement committee, said. Students are also looking forward to winding up the placement season early this year by considering domestic companies over their international counterparts. "Diversity of Indian companies offering internships has increased. Students are quite inclined towards domestic companies, which offer better roles," said professor Kulbhushan Balooni, chairperson-placements at IIM Kozhikode.

Of late, business schools have also seen a spike in students opting for startups over leading brands.

"Students are not tempted by salary packages now. A large chunk wants to join startups, which offer them varied, larger roles and allow them to contribute more to the growth of the organization as compared to traditional roles offered by established companies," said Balooni.

Demand for startups is also an indication that students are keen on taking up entrepreneurship amid slowdown. About 75 per cent students at IIM Kozhikode have expressed interest in interning at startups. In order to attract more startups, IIM Kozhikode is not charging placement fees from these ventures.

"Students are aware of the expected low hiring in multinationals and are keen on broader roles in startups. We have been trying to reach out to several alumni who are running their own start-ups for guidance," said Vibhu Kapoor, coordinator, placement committee at IIM Indore.

Nessa Illumination Technologies, an Ahmedabad-based startup, which hired two students from IIM Ahmedabad for business development activities, is also in talks with IIM Kozhikode. "A lot of systems are not in place in a startup and these students can help us with marketing, an area where they can impress the clients very well," said Akshat Khare, founder, Nessa.

The summer placement process at institutes begins in the first week of November. Xavier School of Management (XLRI), Jamshedpur has also seen a spurt in new sectors like ecommerce and technology this year. However, XLRI is expecting only a single digit percentage rise in stipends this year.

"Companies are a bit reserved in terms of hiring and we are not aiming at the stars this year. We do not see companies in finance sector making many offers," said placement coordinator at XLRI.

IIT, Bombay launches certificate programme

The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) and Applied Materials, Inc. have announced the launch of India's first certification course in semiconductor technology and manufacturing. The course will address a critical need for developing a trained, high-tech workforce in India to help meet the country's growing demand for electronic devices.

The seven-day course will start from November 19 to 25 and will be offered twice a year. Course modules will include semiconductor technology, including very large-scale integration (VLSI), a semiconductor equipment overview and lab equipment user training.

According to Ajay Kumar, joint secretary, department of electronics and information technology, government of India, the programme synergises with the efforts of department of electronics and IT, to promote electronics system design and manufacturing.

"IIT Bombay has strong research, development and education initiatives in the area of semiconductor technology to support semiconductor manufacturing in India. Training a specialised workforce for such an industry is a priority. The semiconductor technology and manufacturing certification course is a fine example of industry and academia working together to help build a strong talent pool for the high-tech industry," says Devang Khakhar, director, IIT Bombay.

A 2011 study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India and Frost & Sullivan on the electronics industry in India sheds light on the country's dire need for trained professionals in the industry.

The study estimated that Indian electronics consumption will grow to USD 400 billion by 2020 and if the industry's manufacturing rate does not improve, it would be able to produce only 20% of the projected requirement. The study indicated that it is critical to develop a skilled workforce to meet the high demand for manufacturing electronic devices.

Talking about the course, Omkaram Nalamasu, chief technology officer, Applied Materials, says, "The semiconductor technology and manufacturing certification course will provide an understanding of semiconductor technologies, processes and the basic concepts of microelectronics manufacturing, combined with hands-on training on some of the semiconductor industry's most widely-used process equipment from Applied Materials."

Faculty members from IIT-B and experts from Applied Materials will participate in training students. Upon successful completion of the course, a Continued Education Programme (CEP) certificate will be awarded by IIT-B.

The last date to apply for this course is October 19. For more details, visit www.iitb.ac.in/~cep/

Learning English to top job interviews

Amid growing concerns over the lack of English communication skills of engineering students in Kerala, engineering colleges are working on improving their communication skills from the first semester itself.

"We intend to start orientation and soft skills development courses that will include effective communication in English and group discussion from the first semester. Special classes will be conducted on a regular basis till the final semester," said Cochin University of science and technology registrar Dr A Ramachandran.

At present, engineering colleges conduct orientation and skill development courses for a week during the final semester, just before the campus recruitment. But that is set to change. A recent survey conducted by an employability measurement company, Aspiring Minds, revealed that four out of 10 engineers were lacking in proper English communication skills.

"Improving the communicative skills of a student is not enough, as 90% of the words they will use later are technical in nature. We are now making an effort to familiarize students with the language of the industry, as it is the 'technician's language' that will help them succeed," said vice-chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University Rajan Gurukkal.

Explaining the problem, Bhuvna Anil Kumar, head of the department of IIT/JEE coaching from, Kochi said: "Basic English communication at the school-level is fine. The problem arises when children go to engineering colleges. During the campus recruitment training, we found that the general language of communication in campuses is Malayalam."

Tandem Network's A U Prasad said: "More engineering aspirants are taking the language test at our institute. Based on the results, we work on areas that they need to improve."

In a test conducted at P C Thomas's institute in Thrissur, it was found that while students of the state board could correctly pronounce only 100 English words in a minute, CBSE students managed to pronounce 300 words. "We have asked students to study five new English words a day. This will improve their vocabulary," said Thomas, director of the institute.

New selection norms may change colour and code of IIT campuses

IIT campuses may have more girls from the coming academic year, as the IIT council has decided to select the candidates only from the top 20 percentile in the boards. According to the new selection norms, the candidates will not just have to clear the JEE mains and the advanced exams, they should also be from the top slice of each board.

Since girls constitute a majority of the board toppers, IIT faculty members expect more of them to enter the portals of the premier technical institution. They also believe the new students would mingle better as the new mix would come also from outside the regimented coaching schools which till now have been sending a majority of students who are made to study and do little else.

"We see that a lot of the toppers in the board exams are girls. Right now the composition of girls on our campus is 14%. With this move, we expect the percentage to go up at least to 25%," said R Nagarajan, professor of chemical engineering, IIT Madras. In board exams throughout the country, girls generally have been outperforming the boys. In Tamil Nadu this year, the topper of 12th exams was a girl. The pass percentage of girls in the state stood at around 89%, higher than the 82% pass percentage for boys.

The JEE exam has been usually associated with solving the problem in varied and quicker ways, using ideas gained from multiple topics. The Class 12 board exams, in contrast, have a much more structured approach to answering questions. The inclusion of board marks as a criterion therefore may enable students with different skill sets to clear the exam than the ones currently seen on IIT campuses.

"This will ensure that the students are more sincere and that we will get students with better quality. We expect an attitudinal change among students, because they would have been going to school and taking the Class 12 exams seriously," said professor Sarit Kumar Das of mechanical department, IIT Madras. Though the decision is not yet out, most faculty members agree on the idea of including subjective questions in the exam. This is what they feel will be an effective filtering strategy which will make all the current changes meaningful. "This will mean that more students will be able to analyse a problem, rather than just eliminate the wrong answers, which is what they have been doing when students go to coaching centres to crack the IIT-JEE," professor Das added.

The new emphasis on Class 12 marks is also supposed to make students and classes take notice of other subjects. Of the two other subjects taken into consideration, English is compulsory and the students are free to choose subjects like physical education or computer science to ease the burden, as it is not difficult to score high marks in these subjects. With emphasis on the total score, experts expect students to also undergo coaching for English.

10 points about new IIT exam pattern that will solve all your doubts

The Indian Institutes of Technology ( IIT) Council on Wednesday struck a compromise with the human resource development ministry on the new pattern of entrance examinations.

Here are its salient features:

1. There will be two exams, the joint entrance examination (JEE) "main" followed by the JEE "advanced".
2. These combine the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and the IIT-JEE, with the "main" exam being equivalent to AIEEE, and "advanced" being equivalent to the IIT-JEE.
3. There will be a "suitable" time gap between the two exams, though it was not clarified how much.
4. Only top 150,000 candidates (including all categories) from the JEE "main" will be qualified to appear in the JEE "advanced" examination.
5. Admission to IITs will be based on the rank in the "advanced" exam.
6. However, only students who come in among the top 20 percent scorers in their respective board will be considered eligible for the IITs.
7. The "advanced" exam will be held by the IITs, just like the IIT- JEE. It will be conducted by a Joint Admission Board (JAB) and Joint Implementation Committee of the IITs, the same which so far conducted the JEE.
8. The JEE "main" will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education ( CBSE), and it will coordinate with the IITs. It will be implemented from 2013.
9. Admission to the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) will be based on the "main" exam score. A final decision on methodology of admission is pending. A meeting of representatives from the NITs is scheduled for July 4.
10. Admission to several deemed universities will also be on the basis of scores in the "main" exam, which earlier took students on basis of AIEEE scores. A minimum percentage criteria will be fixed for these too.

IIT Bombay starts training 10,000 teachers

The training programme for 10,000 teachers was inaugurated on Monday by human resource development minister Kapil Sibal at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay.

Under the 'Talk to a Teacher' project of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology ( NME-ICT) of his ministry, training for 10,000 engineering college teachers from across the country is conducted by leveraging broadband network and ICT tools.

The programme is being conducted through 168 remote centres across India. The lectures are delivered from IIT Bombay by professors of the institute and IIT Madras.

Through the software A-VIEW, audio-video connectivity is provided between all the centres and IIT Bombay. The course consists of lectures, live interactions and lab sessions.

"This method of synchronous education has been developed at IIT Bombay, under the leadership of D.B. Phatak. This method of education allows participation of a large number of women teachers, who normally are unable to join contact programmes at distant locations, owing to family commitments," an IIT official said.

Kapil Sibal interacted with the remote centres from Kanyakumari, Rajkot, Srinagar and Nagpur.

A representative of IIT Bombay presented an Aakash Tablet to the minister.

Unlike other tablet devices, Aakash could also be used to create computer programmes in Python, C, C++ and Scilab, he said.

New areas of Learning

Everything that doesn't happen by accident, happens by design, says Sudhakar Nadkarni, quoting the celebrated designer, Frank Dudas. "Design, as a profession, is young in our country, and there is a shortage of designers nationally," says Nadkarni, who pioneered design education in India by setting up the Industrial Design Centre at IIT-Bombay in 1969 and the Department of Design at IIT-Guwahati in 1997.

In the 1990s and the early 2000, design, especially industrial design, was an unknown area and few industries were ready to invest in this area. The current scenario is different. "Industry is recognising design and it is being reflected in the several partnerships between industry and academia. Also, the government has several national design policies in place. India Design Council, under the ministry of commerce and industries, is promoting the importance of design," says Ravi Mokashi Punekar, faculty member, department of design, IIT-Guwahati.

New Areas

Application areas of design are endless, says Nadkarni, who is at present dean of business design at Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, Mumbai.

Today, there is a congruence of technology and design. The product and user interface is coming together. As Narendra Ghate, head, Innovation Labs at Tata Elxsi, explains, some of the new areas that students can look at are 'India Price Points' where a technology produced in the foreign market has to be suited for India.

User Interface (UI) design is an area where designers are sought-after. "You will find different genres of designers — graphic designers, industrial designers and even architects being absorbed by the industry, because there is a shortage of UI specialised designers," says Vijay Kumar, CEO & Principal Designer at Ergoform — industrial design and product development studio based in Bangalore. He also includes craft as an area where there is scope for good design. Decision-makers in the industry are recognising that design is an important component for success in business endeavours. "Design, both in private as well as public sectors, is becoming a centrally focused activity," says Achutha Rao, co-ordinator, industry relations, Design Clinic Scheme, NID.

Automotive attracts designers and with more automotive studios setting up shop in India, it is another growing area. But, according to Vinay Rao, director, Bang Design, automobile designing is not an emerging trend. He, however, says that there is a growing industry in automobile design 'support.' Stylists in other parts of the world are dependent on colleagues with technical skills to translate a design to computer-aided design. This form of outsourcing is already a large employer of designers and those with related skills, in India.

Software Skills

Skills in digital design are also in demand. Design studios require digital sculptors who can convert pencil sketches into computerised formats. They must also have knowledge of 2D and 3D visuals and software like Alias, Adobe, Corel, Unigraph, Pro E, Catia, Rhino, explains Prakash Unakal, industrial designer from IDC, IIT, Mumbai. The future lies not in technology revolution but rather in innovation. A designer, experts in the field believe, is also a problem-solver and not merely a product decorator. The designer brings his talent and experience to bear upon every aspect of a problem.

IIT answer sheets to be posted online

IIT aspirants will now get to see their evaluated JEE answer scripts even before the result is declared on May 18. IIT Delhi, which organised JEE on April 8 this year, has decided to upload the checked optical response sheets of every candidate on the JEE website to maintain transparency and avoid any errors. It is for the first time that the candidates will get a chance to go through their answer sheets to see if they have been evaluated properly.

If a candidate finds any discrepancy, he or she can lodge a complaint online. These evaluated answer sheets will be available online from May 5 to May 10. The facility to submit requests for revision will close at 5pm on May 10 after which representatives of all IITs will meet to consider the requests. If found correct, the responses will be updated by May 14. According to IITD director, R Shevgaonkar, it may happen that the scanner does not pick up correct responses if a candidate has not filled the response bubble completely.

"In such a case, they can simply lodge a complaint and we will go through it before the preparation of the final merit list," he said. However, candidates will not be allowed to change their responses or question the answer keys provided by IITD. The facility is only for highlighting any technical glitches.

IITs object to common entrance test roll-out from next yr, seek further talks

The government's plan to introduce the common entrance test (CET) for engineering from 2013 hit a roadblock on Wednesday, with the faculty representatives of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) asking for the proposal to be put on hold till there are further discussions.

When asked about the meeting, HRD minister Kapil Sibal only said that it went off well.

The minister and senior HRD officials met with IIT directors and chairpersons and representatives of the All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIFF) on Wednesday for the first time after the tech institutes expressed concerns about the new system that is expected to be implemented from next year.

The federation passed a unanimous resolution that was given to the HRD minister expressing ``grave concern'' that a new test for admission to IIT was being ``thrust'' upon them without allowing enough time for discussion or critical review and acceptance in IIT Senate. The resolution also said that implementation of the changes in the existing entrance tests should be kept on hold until reports are obtained, consolidated and accepted by the Senate.

AIIFF representatives said that the meeting was a ``fruitful'' one and more discussions were likely on the issue.

Significantly, the decision has the approval of IIT Council that comprises of IIT directors and is binding on the institutes. However opposition from the AIIFF could put the ministry's plans could be put in serious jeopardy and even delay the 2013 roll-out.

The CET aims to serve as a single national entrance exam for admission to engineering and science courses in centrally funded institutions such as the 15 IITs, 30 NITs and a host of other technical institutes.

One of the significant objections was to the proposed weightage given to class XII marks. The new system will give class XII marks at least 40% weightage, while the test score will make up the remaining 60%. So far, the Class XII results have no bearing on the IIT-JEE score and rank.

IIT Senate feels since the assessment system varies across school boards, the knowledge of students cannot be reflected on the same scale and such weightage would not be a true assessment. Faculty representatives also feel that changes will dilute the IIT brand.

The other objections relate to both parts of the test carrying objective-type questions, and the plan to hold them on the same day.

Last Minute Tips

As engineering aspirants across the country gear up for IIT-JEE on April 8, We offer some last-minute tips on how to crack the test

With over five lakh students expected to appear for the IIT joint entrance exam this year, the competition is going to be tough. So how do you prepare yourself for a stellar performance?

Right Revision

Says Shubham Mehta, who secured a second rank at the IIT-JEE 2011, "Though you should try and keep in touch with every topic, the focus at this stage should be on organic and inorganic chemistry. Mathematics and physics are conceptual and devoting as less as an hour or two to these subjects every day should be fine. Make short notes and highlights of chapters, concepts and formulas." Mihir Patel, a fourth year electrical engineering student at IIT Bombay, adds that this is the time to revise the complete syllabus starting with concepts you understand relatively well. "Don't leave any topic. Compile your frequent errors; understand why they occur and come up with strategies to avoid them," he says. Additionally, solving a few problems from your notes, study material and last year's JEE paper will be of help. Pay equal attention to all the three subjects by devoting specific hours during the day or entire days for each of the subjects. Make mental clues of all your concepts so as to help you retrieve them quickly during the exam. You may also revise chapters from your class XI books to brush up on various concepts.

Exam Time

IIT-JEE is a competitive exam and includes both easy and tough questions. So if you find a question difficult, remember a majority of students would feel the same. Advises Mehta, "Keep the order of the subjects you are attempting the same as the one you are used to attempting at your coaching class/practice hours. This will ensure that your mind is at ease during the exam. Don't spend more than five minutes on any particular problem. Try to complete the chemistry section within 30-45 minutes, physics within 45 minutes to an hour and the mathematics section within an hour-and-a-half ."

Says Tejas Shyam, a fifth year metallurgical engineering and materials science student at IIT-B , "If you feel comfortable, solve the questions that carry more marks first (even among the problems you find easy). This will maximise your attempt. Do not try too much of guesswork, lest you garner negative marks."

Subject-Wise

Maths:

Draw diagrams especially in co-ordinate and Calculus related questions . Focus on quadratic equations and expressions, complex numbers, probability, vectors, matrices in algebra; circle, parabola, hyperbola in co-ordinate geometry, etc. Use method of substitution and elimination in trigonometry and conic sections if you don't know the correct way. Try deriving all the important properties of conic sections without consulting a reference and make a comparison table to refer to on the last day. Try deriving the derivatives and integrals without consulting the reference

Physics: 

Most of the concepts here are intuitive and difficult to forget. Follow the concept until the end. Revise modern physics, mechanics, fluids, heat and thermodynamics, waves and sound, capacitors and electrostatics, magnetics, electromagnetic induction and optics thoroughly. Avoid lengthy questions

Chemistry: 

Organic and inorganic chemistry: In inorganic chemistry, focus on qualitative analysis, co-ordination chemistry and chemical bonding. Make a mapping between name of the reaction, species/ functional groups that occur as reactants and those that occur as product , catalysts and reaction conditions. Understand the arrow mechanisms. In physical chemistry, pay attention to electro-chemistry , thermodynamics and chemical equilibrium. Beware of calculation errors Questions with no negative marking must be attempted. Mark the answers on the OMR sheet after every four to five attempted questions. Remember, JEE is about quality and not quantity. You can make the cut by performing well in at least two subjects and securing the minimum cut-off marks in one.

Mental Make-Up

You have done the best you could, now is the time to be confident and calm. Don't stress over what you don't know, but be sure of what you do.

Remember to go for regular walks or get at least an hourlong exercise each day to refresh your mind. Advises Gautam Barua, director, IIT-Guwahati : "Do not listen to anybody other than your inner self. Be confident of your abilities and don't get distracted by random advice about the pattern of questions or the likely questions. Give it your best shot and be satisfied with it."

No browsing after midnight for IIT Delhi Students

Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi has restricted the use of internet after midnight for students in hostels

IIT Delhi has recently taken a decision to prohibit its students from using the internet in the hostel premises between 1am and 6am. The institute, during these five hours, disconnects the internet facility available to students in their hostel rooms.

The reason, according to Shashi Mathur, dean, students , IIT-D , is to ensure that the academic performance of students does not suffer. He says, "The internet connection, which was available to students during the midnight hours earlier, would disrupt their studies. Students would watch videos or be busy on social networking sites; download movies or play games till late in the morning. Hence, waking up late and getting delayed for classes."

However, the internet facility will still be available to students 24x7 in libraries, labs and research rooms on campus. "Students, who need to use the internet for their studies or project work, etc, can use these facilities . Also, we have not restricted students from using their own wireless internet connections in their rooms during the night," adds Mathur.

Students, however, are not convinced. "We already have a restriction on the amount of data that we can download using the internet connection in the hostel. With the new restriction, we can't use the internet late at night. There are many students in the hostels who use the internet to study at night. We put forward our point of view to the authorities, but to no avail. Since the institute has not put a restriction on personal internet connections, I have to use one," says a second year student rooms, it's difficult to download e-books , which a lot of students use. The research rooms are located about 1.5 km from our hostels and are generally occupied by seniors , so it is inconvenient."

The decision to curb the Ravi Kumar, first-year student of mechanical engineering , says, "We understand that the institute has our best interests in mind, but without internet in the usage of internet in hostel rooms after midnight was first taken by IIT-Madras . Students of IIT-Madras are not allowed to use internet in the hostel from 1am to 5am. IIT-Bombay , too, followed suit.

IITs want say in new test format

The Indian Institutes of Technology want a say in the new entrance examination that the Centre has proposed to replace the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination in 2013.

While members of the senate of IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Delhi have written to the HRD ministry asking that their suggestions be taken into consideration, the IIT-Madras Faculty Association has sent its views to other IITs to express solidarity on the issue. Some of these academics say they understand the intentions for the change, but charge the ministry with rushing through with the change without considering the views of stakeholders.

"We were never consulted on the proposed change. We are for the inclusion of higher secondary marks in the admission process and feel that the marking formula proposed by the Indian Statistical Institute is fair. But why is the ministry in such a hurry to start the new test in 2013 without looking into the pros and cons?" asked S K Das, president of the IIT-Madras Faculty Association. "We agree the system must be modified and want to provide suggestions on how best to make the change. The ISEET proposal is sketchy and nothing has been documented. Whatever we know is through a presentation and from media," said chairman of the board of governors of IIT Kanpur M Anandakrishnan.

New IITs yet to get govt approval, students in a spot

AHMEDABAD: Hundreds of students entered the new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), set up in 2008 expecting a bright future for themselves. 

But their dreams have hit a roadblock, even as the first batch of BTech students is set to graduate in May. The new institutes are yet to be approved as IITs by the Parliament. As a result, the students graduating this year will not get an IIT degree for the time being. 

All IITs are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961. The Act declares them as 'institutions of national importance' and specifies their framework for governance, powers and duties. The Gandhinagar campus was among the six IITs set up in 2008. Another two were added the next year. 

While the Lok Sabha passed the bill for incorporating the new IITs under the act, it is yet to be cleared by Rajya Sabha. Because of the uncertainty, the IITs are unable to fix a date for their first convocation. Traditionally, IITs host their annual convocations in August. 

"We are hoping the Parliament moves quickly," said a director of one of the new IITs. "It takes time to plan a convocation that meets IIT standards." 

The first batch of 30 MTech students of IIT Hyderabad graduated in 2011. The students are waiting for their degree certificates. 

Uday Desai, director IIT Hyderabad, said, "We have given the students provisional degree certificates for the time being. With the Lok Sabha having cleared the bill, half the job is done. We hope that the Rajya Sabha clears the bill this time." A total of 160 students will be graduating from the IIT Hyderabad this year. 

Some 600 under-graduate and post-graduate students will be passing out from the new IITs this year. IIT-Gandhinagar has 88 undergraduate students.

Five states oppose common entrance engineering test

NEW DELHI: The government's plan to introduce a common national examination for undergraduate engineering courses across the country will have to be curtailed with the test applicable only for central technical institutions from next year as at least five states have objected to the proposal.

The states, including Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, opposed the move and two others advocated more debate when the common test was discussed at the state education ministers' meeting on Wednesday.

In light of the meeting's deliberations, admissions to IIT, other Central government institutions and state engineering institutions that admit students based on AIEEE scores will be carried out in accordance with a merit list drawn up by the common national examination results with weightage for state boards.

Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Puducherry opposed the proposal, while Uttar Pradesh suggested that private institutions be brought on board as well. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh asked for wider consultation. The states have been keen to retain their state-level common entrance tests.

In the midst of the opposition from non-Congress states, the human resource development ministry received support from unexpected quarters with Gujarat expressing its approval for the plan.

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said the common test will be for the means for admission to central engineering institutes like IITs, and expressed the hope that states will also adopt the formula in coming years. There are, however, considerable reservations of including board exam weightages to tests to India's top technical schools like IITs that have previously conducted their own entrance exams.

Sibal said 11 boards at the Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE) meeting last week have "unanimously" supported the move. Four states - Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh - have already accepted CBSE-conducted AIEEE scores for admission to their institutes.

"The unanimous decision of the state education ministers today in passing the resolution was that we agreed in principle that there should be one test in 2013 for all students who want to seek admission to central engineering institutions," Sibal said.

The proposed entrance test which the HRD ministry has proposed to be named as Indian Science - Engineering Eligibility Test (ISEET), is likely to be conducted in April or May next year and will have two parts - ISEET main and ISEET advance. The former will test the inherent intelligence of the student.

Education ministers of states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh among others also suggested including regional language along with English and Hindi.

"The exam will be conducted initially twice a year starting in April-May, 2013 and the ultimate aim is to conduct it thrice or four times. The score will be valid for two years."

A formula has been devised by the Indian Statistical Institute to equate the scores of different boards. The idea is to re-emphasize school education, do away with the stress of multiple examination and grey markets," added Sibal.

The entrance examination question papers will be prepared by the IITs and the exam will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education. In the first year (2013) around 12 lakh candidates are expected to take the exam. States which will base its admissions on the common entrance test are Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh and Uttarakhand.