Education Times Division of Times of India is starting a new feature “Interaction”
As part of the new initiative they had organized a Panel Discussion on IIT-The Road Ahead on October 31, 2009 (3 to 5 PM)
I was asked to modetate a panel consisting of distinguidhed individuals -
- Prof R Natarajan, Former Chairman, AICTE (Former Director, IIT Madras)
- Mr Ananth Koppar, Founder Kshema Tech & KTwo Tech (IIT Kharagpur Alum)
- Mr Ashok Kamath Chair Akshara Foundation & Former CEO Analog Devices India (IIT Bombay Alum)
I was invited thanks to my 16 years at IIT Kanpur (and a year at IIT Madras too)
We deliberated on five issues
- The recent controversy on cut-offs for JEE aspirants moving from 60% to 80%
- The percieved brand dilution due to hurriedly starting seven IITs in just a year
- The recent stand-off between IIT faculty and the Government and the resultant strike by IIT faculty
- Are IIT’s contributing enough on research front?
- Do students join IITs only for lucrative managerial careers by joining IIMs?
It was interesting to listen to the esteemed Panelists and the interaction between them and the 50+ audience consisting mostly of IIT aspirants in Schools and their parents
Tags: IIT
