The Indian Institutes of Technology have since long been the barometer of technological development in our country. However I or many of my fellow readers may disagree to this fact but the truth is that for the world they have been the most renowned institutes of our country generating very high intellectuals year after year. The fact that many of them have gone to work outside is a different matter altogether.
Their reputation has been built over the years over the years because of a number of reasons some of which have been mentioned here –
- Very strong entry barriers – Acceptance ratios following to as low as 1:60
- Fantastic alumni base – Alumni across the world in various top organizations
- Research and Development – Excellent facilities for conducting research
But now things seem to be changing with one of the most atrocious proposals ever to be brought out by government of ministers. Recently they have decided to bring appropriate amendments in the Institute of Technology’s Act so that they are able to offer courses in medicine.
At the moment most of them are content with engaging in interdisciplinary research in medicine and see where it would benefit from engineering activities. IIT Kharagpur is the only one which has expressed its interest currently to start a hospital and offer medical courses.
So what effect does this plan / proposal have on the future of our centers of technology?
- It looks set to destroy the elite nature of IITs as institutions which one looked forward to get into because the entry itself was really difficult. The downfall started with opening of many more IITs diluting the name. With the introduction of medical courses, the downfall seems to be continuing..
- IITs have for long reveled in creating a name for themselves as well as us Indians as technology powerhouses. Courses like M.Sc and B.Sc have been there for a while but till now it has still always been recognized as a tech institute. With introduction of medical courses, though the name sets to get diluted
- This move shows that our ministers don’t know how to cater to either medical or technological education in a proper manner. In the long run it will lead to the death of both
- The world looks to us for the fact that the students coming out of the IITs are the crème–da–le–crème of the technological world. In such a scenario it would take a number of years before medical students coming out of IITs have some standing in the world.
Inter disciplinary research in the field of medicine is fine. But offering courses in medicine makes me wonder whether one day our Babu’s would make amendments to AIIMS so as to introduce Engineering courses there…
What’s your take on this issue?