Mumbai: In the last academic year, 15 undergraduate students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay decided to drop out of their course after three years with a BSc (Engineering) degree, a new exit option created by the premier institute under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The information was provided by IIT Bombay officials at a press conference held in the city to observe three-years since NEP was rolled out by the Centre.
The institute had introduced the three-year degree for the first time in 2022-23 to let the students that are struggling to complete their four-year course or have other career plans leave the institute as a graduate. These students are awarded a BSc (Engineering) degree, instead of the regular BTech certificate given after finishing the four-year programme.
The multiple entry and multiple exit options is one of the key provisions of NEP and is aimed at making higher education more flexible. This allows college students to discontinue their courses midway with a certificate, diploma and degree in hand, depending on the number of years they studied. They can also rejoin the course at their own institute or even a different college or university according to their convenience.
However, as of now, IIT Bombay has come up with only one exit option of the three-year degree. The officials said that the students are required to earn around 160 credits in order to be eligible for BSc (Engineering) certificate. Their degree is named after their core branch of engineering, such as mechanical or computer science, provided they earn at least 30 credits in that discipline.
"The IIT Council had a discussion about the students who were performing poorly in academics. It was decided that if they complete 60% of the credits, they should be able to go out with a BSc degree," said Avinash Mahajan, Dean (Academic Programmes), IIT Bombay.
The IIT council is the apex decision-making body for all 23 IITs across the country. It's headed by the Union Minister of Education.
The premier institutes are known for their intense academics and competitive atmosphere, which often takes a toll on students. Data presented by the Centre in Lok Sabha in April shows that 33 IIT students have killed themselves since 2018. These include Darshan Solanki, a first-year Dalit student at IIT Bombay, who jumped to his death from a hostel building on February 12. "Academic stress" has been cited as the key reason for these deaths.
In addition to third-year exit, IIT Bombay is bringing more flexibility in their courses in line with NEP. The students can opt for a number of electives and minor courses belonging to their core branch of engineering, other departments at the institute and even non-engineering disciplines such as management, humanities and design. The institute has also introduced honours degree and dual degrees (BTech-MTech).
"We are increasing the flexibility of minors. The institute can accommodate for 400-500 students to take up any course of their choice," said S Sudarshan, Deputy Director, IIT Bombay.
