The IIT Joint Admission Board (JAB) on Sunday agreed to carry on with the existing two-tier engineering entrance test for another academic year. The final decision will, however, be taken by IIT-Kharagpur, which has been tasked with conducting the JEE Mains in April 2014 and JEE Advanced in May- June 2014.
In the two-tier system, which was followed in JEE 2013, a candidate has to be in the top 20 per cent in their secondary examination to get into an IIT. The first part, JEE Mains, will select students for all Centrally-funded technical institutes (CFTIs), except the IITs. JEE Main has adopted ranking with 40 per cent weightage to secondary examination results and 60 per cent to the entrance examination. The top 1.5 lakh rankers will have to take the second part — Advanced — for admission to IITs.
The HRD Ministry has been drawing flak for the controversial IIT eligibility criteria. In a review meeting on August 14, chaired by HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju, it indicated complexities in the format. The Ministry had asked the JAB to decide on selection norms to clear the confusion before the next batch of engineering aspirants get ready for the 2014 entrance test. A possible change in eligibility criteria, with a higher cut-off slab concerning secondary school results, was thus on the anvil.
Meanwhile, the Council of IITs is expected to amend fee payment policy of IITs to augment fiscal resources, in a meting early next month. With the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme on its way, those exempt from paying fees under Government policy will get the amount through DBT and have to pay it. Fee revenue constitutes just 7-10 per cent of total non-plan expenditure of an IIT and they are paid only by 50 per cent students. Under the existing system, fees for about 22 per cent of SC/ST students are fully waived. Besides, up to 25 per cent of students whose parental annual income is less than Rs 4.5 lakh, are entitled to a fee waiver. The remaining students pay the full fee.
IITs meet most of their expenses, such as salaries and staff costs, through financial grants from the HRD Ministry. The Planning Commission as well as the Department of Expenditure in the Ministry of Finance, have highlighted the need to increase fee revenue, according to official sources. The council could also consider a dedicated technical cadre to free faculty members of extra administrative load and help them devote more time to teaching and research.