Opinion on “new” IITs
Most people agree, including those belonging to the IIT community, that several new IITs are urgently needed. In an ideal world, these new IITs would spring up in brand new campuses complete with full faculty, students, staff, and all modern facilities. In practice, this is not going to happen. IIT Guwahati, which was the last one to be created from scratch has also left many dissatisfied. Its location in the North-Eastern India, which is relatively less connected with the rest of the country, has been a big deterrent to new faculty and students.
The conversion of University of Roorkee to IIT Roorkee made the folks at Roorkee ecstatic, but the rest of the IIT community was not amused. The biggest obstacle, as IITians see it, is the cultural difference between IIT and any other college or university in India. They contend that just changing the name to IIT is not going to make any real difference in the quality of research and education there.
Personally, I am more optimistic. Of course, it remains to be seen how the experiment with the University of Roorkee goes. However, the one thing that immediately changes is the process of selection of faculty and students. Within a few years all students will have been chosen through the same rigorous and highly competitive nation-wide Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) that is used for all IITs. Similarly, all new faculty will need to go through the same rigorous selection process that all IITs use†. Additionally, the entire administrative structure has changed to be similar to that in any other IIT with the director replacing the vice-chancellor as the head of the organization. I am not being naïve and assuming that this is sufficient to completely alter the functioning of the organization. However, this is not much different from a company being taken over by another. The pains of change take their toll, but most mergers do not end up destroying the company. A similar process will take place in Roorkee. There will be many who would want to persist in the old ways, but they will be gradually assimilated.
Finally, I think that the concerns about diluting the reputation of IITs are exaggerated. Since IITs are based on the American model, it is worthwhile comparing them to the universities in the US. There are many universities in the US that have several campuses and the campuses compete among themselves. More often than not, some campuses become much more renowned and reputable than others. A similar competition among all the IIT campuses will start differentiating the campuses more than they have been at present. It might eliminate the convenience of viewing all IITs at the same level, but this is a small price to pay for the much needed expansion.
There is, definitely, an element of risk in the rapid conversion of several universities and engineering colleges to IITs. However, the potential benefits are immense. These benefits, I believe, make it a chance worth taking.
†This is in no way an insinuation that the selection process of students and faculty at the University of Roorkee was not highly competitive.