IITs hopeful common JEE will be put off after meeting PM
15 Jun 2012
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today met senate members of the seven older Indian Institutes of Technology and assured them that the autonomy of the IITs would remain intact, the IIT faculty federation said today.
The IITs are strongly opposed to the proposal by the human resource development ministry for a joint entrance examination to cover all state-funded technology institutes, as they feel this will affect their autonomy and quality standards. The IITs currently hold their own common entrance test (CET).
"We explained each of our points to him [the prime minister]. He has told us he will talk to HRD minister Kapil Sibal and assured us that the autonomy of the IITs will remain intact," secretary of the All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF) A K Mittal told reporters after the meeting with Singh.
During the meeting, the federation raised the issue of autonomy and said the decision taken by the IIT council on holding the 'one nation one examination' JEE should be ratified by all the IIT senates.
"We also insisted that any change in the entrance test should be effected only after 2013," Mittal said.
The Kanpur IIT has already openly rejected the JEE proposal, and said it will continue to conduct its own entrance test. There are murmurings of following suit from the other IITs as well.
