New Delhi: India Institutes of Technology (IITs) are keen on expanding their sphere as they are soon going to launch new courses in diverse areas such as medicine, humanities and design among others.
As per the sources, IIT Kharagpur (IIT- Kgp) has taken the initiative and invited private partners for setting up a super speciality hospital in its premises this year. Once the hospital starts functioning the institute is planning to initiate a MBBS programme. Moreover, the institute has been venturing into different disciplines like opening a law school dealing with property rights as well.
IIT Guwahati (IIT-G) has ventured into humanities by introducing Masters' programme in development studies from this academic year. It will be offered in six subjects - Economics, English & Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology & History and Archeology. Although all IITs offer humanities department and offer electives to engineering students, there are few full-fledged undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. IIT Kanpur (IIT-K) and IIT-Kharagpur already offer an integrated M Sc in Economics and research programmes in humanities.
IIT Delhi (IIT-D) is planning to introduce two-year M A programme in development and cultural studies. IIT Bombay (IIT- B) offers PhD programmes in humanities. IIT Madras started a five-year integrated M A program in English, Economics and Development Studies in 2006. However, the response regarding the quality of programme in diverse disciplines is still awaited. It is yet to be seen how well they are received in the market.
The Yash Pal committee set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had recommended in its report that the IITs should turn into full-fledged universities and also offer broad-based university curriculum on the lines of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
