I I T B O M B AY ’ S Q U E S T F O R A C A D E M I C E X C E L L E N C E Contributors- Amogh Gawaskar, Ayan Sharma, Cherub Kapoor, Tushar Kumar Panelist- Aishwarya Putta, Alisha Parveen, Krushnakant Bhattad, Nandini Manwani, Preetam Pinnada
This article is about all things academic in the institute. We have taken a look at the various avenues of the development and manifestation of IIT Bombay’s academic vision and summarised the ways in which we can go onwards and upwards.
Introduction The race for modernity is becoming increasingly relevant and competitive, with academic institutions expected to be at the forefront of our endeavours towards the development of society through education and innovation. Academia is the central pillar on which the hallowed identity of IIT Bombay has been built, gradually yet steadily fortifying itself ever since the inception of the institute. As we usher in a new decade, it is important for us to take stock of the development achieved in recent years and use that hindsight to train our vision for the future, foreseeable, or otherwise. During the last decade, IIT Bombay has witnessed a number of successful initiatives, including newly established departments, new degree programs and some excellent research facilities and output. In this piece, we have taken a bird’s eye view of the multiple dimensions of the “academics” that we are referring to and tried to highlight some major changes one may expect in the coming years.
IIT Bombay’s Academia Vision After talking to the powers that be, including the Director of IITB, Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri, we have proceeded to elaborate on IIT Bombay’s vision for academia in the coming years. IIT Bombay was founded in 1958 with an objective to set the direction of technical education in the country. Since then, the institute has come a long way and its vision has tremendously expanded. From just a technological education centre, it has now grown into an institute of national importance, solving worldwide problems with its cutting edge research and a dynamic student community. Providing high standard technical education over a wide variety of disciplines will always remain a highlight of IITB’s Vision. Apart from this, throughout its journey, the institute has always tried to adapt to the changing technological trends and to the needs of the society. For example, the last few decades witnessed the second phase of the institute’s development, with an emphasis to set the momentum towards improving research in the institute. Now we are witnessing the advent of the third phase, in which we can expect a spike in the number of collaborations with the industry and strong encouragement to promote entrepreneurship among students in the coming decade. This has already started to become evident with the establishment of Desai Sethi School of Entrepreneurship and foundation of IITB Research park which will act as the hub of academia and industry interaction. The backbone of all these innovations will have to be a perennially improving education system. This is being addressed by revamping curriculum, offering a variety of courses via electives, enhancing teaching, establishing modern multidisciplinary departments, and improvising laboratories and research spaces. In the following sections we elaborate on how IIT Bombay is working towards achieving these goals.
Way to the Grail The institute’s strength lies in the autonomy that it provides to its departments in their functioning. Healthy growth of departments is facilitated by providing a conducive environment that gives them the freedom and power to conduct courses at their will, and by creating an inclusive environment for students and researchers to participate in pioneering research domains.
This independence becomes even more necessary when we have such a vast array of disciplines offered- be it Engineering, Pure Sciences, Management, Entrepreneurship, Humanities and Social Sciences, or Design. Keeping this in mind, we decided to interview some of the Heads of Departments to obtain insights into their plans of action for their respective departments. In this section, we have taken a look at the methods employed by various disciplines to accomplish the common goal highlighted in the aforementioned vision.
Curriculum Considering the variety of interests an individual has and the sheer amount of knowledge each discipline has to offer, it is impossible to have a 4- or 5-year curriculum that covers everything comprehensively. The last major curriculum reform happened 13 years ago, i.e., in 2007, apart from minor tweaks in 2013. When asked about the next major curriculum revamp, Director, IIT Bombay, said: “We boast of getting the best students in India and naturally we should be giving them the best possible training. For this, the Kishore Chatterjee committee has been formed to revise the entire curriculum of the B.Tech and DD programs. Personally, considering the number of credits, I feel that most of the students are overloaded.”
Core Courses A key feature of the new curriculum, as pointed out by numerous Heads of Departments (HoDs), would be the shrinking of the requirement of compulsory courses as part of the major curriculum. One can expect to complete all compulsory major courses by the end of the 5th semester and the remaining 3-5 semesters consisting of just electives. This has already happened in the Electrical Engineering department and the HoD, Prof. BG Fernandes feels the number of compulsory core courses may still come down. Simultaneously, a number of departments are trying to increase the number of elective courses running each semester. Prof. B. Puranik, HoD of Mechanical Engineering Department, said: “It is anticipated that by 2021, the institute will be providing all the departments with an umbrella structure under which each of them will accommodate their respective degree programs.”
DD Specializations The EE Department has expanded the number of DD specializations from 2 to 5. The Department of Physics is also trying to offer Dual Degrees in a variety of areas. Prof. B.G. Fernandes, the HoD of Electrical Engineering Department, had following views on the recently implemented major curriculum revamp: “There were problems in DIC-1. In the first year we wanted to give students a feel of what’s ahead in the coming 3 years. Now we have 5 modules covering all the areas of Electrical Engineering in addition to lab components covering everything we teach in class. Secondly, the number of core courses has come down and students can finish them by the end of 5th semester. Moreover, DD students can choose their specialization (which have now expanded from 2 to 5 specialization) after 2nd year. Also, we have added a course on communica-tion skills for undergraduates. Finally, flexibility is the key.”
Minors In light of the new rule regarding the registration for Minor courses, it is a bit difficult for students to explore the course offerings of departments other than their own now. The plan to increase the number of electives and the Interdisciplinary Dual Degree Program (IDDDP) are two effective ways of addressing this concern, but the latter has an obvious time-investment trade-off associated with it. Considering that the boundaries between departments are becoming increasingly blurred, the institute can address this concern more satisfactorily in the times to come. Some disciplines are trying to increase the number of minor courses they offer so that anyone interested can pursue a minor degree. SoM, for example, plans to incorporate a total of 10 minor courses in the coming years.
Labs When done right, nothing contributes to the learning of students more than an intellectually stimulating lab course. They have the potential to stoke the interest of students in their subjects by letting them apply their theoretical knowledge to a practical set-up. On the flip side, if lab courses are unsatisfactory, then they end up deflating the enthusiasm of students and can resign them to go through the motions without any cerebral exertion. Keeping this in mind, the Department of Chemistry is setting up a Technical Educational Lab from the funds obtained from one of their alumni. The lab should be completed within 3 months and will be incorporated in the department’s courses to enhance student understanding of the subject. Similar efforts can be observed in other departments too. Some of the HoDs pointed out that lack of funds is preventing them to improve the laboratory set up.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution It is evident that two of the most rapidly developing subjects in modern technology - Artificial Intelligence and Data Science - are pervading and augmenting every traditional industry and hence it is imperative that training in these skills should be offered to students at an eminent technical institute if we are to stay ahead of the curve of innovation. To this end, IIT Bombay will soon witness the inception of a Centre for Machine Intelligence and Data Science (MINDS), which shall offer courses and projects in these subjects. These courses, which can also be taken up as part of a Minor degree and IDDDP, will be tailored to cater to each and every department. This will help students add these valuable skills to their domain knowledge.
Hands-on Experience There are multiple dimensions to the learning of a student here in the institute. Having an outlet for the students to practically apply their theoretical knowledge is integral to the development of a student as an able professional or academician. Here are some ways in which the institute is furnishing students with this hands-on experience. Prof. B.G. Fernandes, the HOD of EE department said: “The future is not going to be much of classroom teaching, a reason being a large number of students. It’ll majorly be Hands-on Things, teamwork, projects. There’ll be a greater emphasis on them.”
Technical Projects Apart from individual efforts being done by departments, the institute also provides the opportunity to do projects under the guidance of professors through SURP and iSURP (Summer and in semester undergraduate research program, respectively). A number of well-established technical teams exist in the institute, some of which go on to participate in international competitions. IIT Bombay Racing, AUV IITB, Pratham, Mars Rover, Innovation Cell and Team Shunya are some teams that see great student participation every year. To encourage the technical work involved in various tech teams, efforts are being put in to award students course credits for such work, as a part of their degree program.
MakerSpace “As part of the undergraduate curriculum revamp, this new idea of MarkerSpace has been proposed, which is proposed to replace in some sense the existing workshop and drawing courses, and the idea is to bring in much more hands-on work, right in the first year”, Prof. Puranik, HoD of Mechanical Engineering, commented. MakerSpace is designed to be an open-ended lab course and can be thought of as working in the Tinkerer’s Lab for credits. This is a very welcoming move because the current workshop and drawing courses in the first year are somewhat stagnant in terms of inculcating creative thinking, and this reform can actually provide some stimulating fodder to the analytical mind of the IITian.
Research Numerous measures are being taken by each department to attract faculties from all over the world, who are involved in state-of-the-art and esoteric research domains.
Faculty. Programs
Infrastructure
and
PG
Degree
The Physics Department has identified several focus areas - quantum computing, quantum materials, astronomy, and topological materials - for which it is actively looking for researchers. These newer research directions are planned to be translated to students in the form of courses, mostly electives. The government is also very keen on supporting ideas for defence purposes, and a quantum computing lab is going to be set up in the department. In the words of the HoD of Engineering Physics, Prof. K.G. Suresh: “The range of work is very diverse in the department, from electron microscopes to space telescopes. As the number of research areas is increasing, the number of PhD people are also increasing. This year, the department has 20 PhD students. For the last three years, it has been the no. 1 in the country. To attract great faculty and postgraduate students, especially ones from foreign institutes, the Physics Department is actively advertising through social media recently.” Infrastructure is another area where we lack now. The Physics Department has sent proposals for revamping their UG 2nd and 3rd year laboratories apart from new research spaces. The Chemistry Department has also requested for a new establishment. The Aerospace Department is coming up with a new Flight Simulator laboratory. The Center for Policy Studies (CPS) and the Shailesh J Mehta School of Management (SJ SoM) also plan to recruit more faculty. SoM currently has only 25 faculty members, and wishes to introduce more courses and programs once it has engaged more researchers. They plan to pace up their faculty recruitment process to have 40-50 faculties by 2030 which will lead to the introduction of 4-5 new degree programs. Some of these programs will be Masters in Commercial Data Management and minor in Finance for UGs.
To promote good quality research among Masters students, the Computer Science and Engineering Department from 2020 onwards is starting a new degree, namely, “MS by Research”. Unlike already existing Masters programs, this will have an open-ended time span, typically from 1.5-2.5 years which will be decided based on the quality of research. Students will have minimal course load and final thesis will not be graded, i.e., a 0 credit thesis. This can be thought of as a mini PHD program. Joint PHDs are also getting increasingly popular. IIT Bombay for the same has collaboration with Monash University along with some others. The CSE Department is also trying to promote research among undergraduates by introducing 8 credit RnD courses. Prof. Umesh Bellur, the HoD of Department of Computer Science and Engineering said: “The graduation in MS by Research program will purely be driven by the quality of research. If your thesis is great in a semester, you are free to leave.” Prof. Bellur added, “We want to be the best department in the country, for that we want to go into a breadth of research areas in CS that are relevant to the country. Securities is one of them, applications of AI and ML is another. We also want to have a strong Systems presence in the country and are planning a Systems Centre of Excellence which will also pool in faculties from other universities. Another area we are lacking is in the Computer Architec-ture group and are looking to hire faculties specialized in hardware.” The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences is starting a new PG dual degree program, MA + PHD in Philosophy. Also, the institute is trying to increase the number of courses offered by the HSS department.
Industrial and Interdisciplinary Collaboration Industrial and academic collaborations are integral to help an institute thrive in its endeavour for a rich academic culture. The Research Park that IIT Bombay will soon set up and is aimed to fulfil a dual purpose. The first is to facilitate industrial collaboration with the institute, which bodes well for the faculty as well as the students; for the faculty because it provides them with grants for their research and the opportunity to work on relevant projects, for the students because it opens up an array of industrially relevant options for them to apply themselves into. The second purpose is that it is a symbiotic relationship which stands to benefit both entities. The industry prospers due to constant innovation and this constant innovation adds to the research output and hence the value of the institute. There are already 6-7 industries on campus: Ubisoft, Bharat Force, Tata Power SED, DRDO, Murata, Nanosniff Technology. We can expect this number to significantly grow further in the years to come. Prof. K.G. Suresh, the HOD of Physics Department said: “ISRO is very keen on funding the department because of the satellite program, and is expected to give a 100-150 crores” Prof. Shivganesh Bhargava, the HoD of School of Management said: “Extensive collaboration exists with IEOR and CTARA. Collaboration, as of now, isn’t present with core engineering disciplines but there is a substantial scope with CSE and EE.” The Center for Policy Studies (CPS) also intends to collaborate with various government and research organizations to further its work primarily in the fields of information economy, energy policy, and water sanitation.
Innovative ways of Teaching Many of us at times had the feeling of not learning anything from a course that we took as part of the completion of our degree or even sometimes enthusiastically. What enhances learning? Which methods of teaching add maximum value to the learners? Many of such questions can’t be answered just by the instructor and require proper research. Leading the way in such domains is the Interdisciplinary Program in Educational Technology which we will be concisely referring to in this section as Educational Technology or ET. This 10-year old department works on solving educational learning problems by utilizing various kinds of technologies. Educational Technology organizes multiple workshops for IITB faculties throughout the year to help them improve their teaching style. These workshops also introduce new methods of teaching, for example, flipped courses. We discussed the role of Educational Technology with Prof. Sahana Murthy, a senior faculty member in the department. She mentioned the four major frontiers on which ET specializes, namely,
Student facing: Technology enhanced learning Teacher facing Project: EdTech Educational Data Analytics Emergent fields: Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Myobands (Biomedical devices to track student response to teaching) ET, along with Centre For Distance Engineering Education Programme (CDEEP), are the distance learning arms of IITB, and are actively involved in developing MOOCs (Massive open online courses) with an aim that thousands of more students should benefit from the expertise available at IIT Bombay.
Are we missing something? Despite the humongous amount of efforts put by the institute to improve the education it offers, there will always be a scope of further refinement. We try to highlight possible scopes of improvement in the institute’s plan of action. One of the issues repeatedly raised is that there exists a gap between the undergraduates and research. Many professors and even students feel that UG potential is not utilised to its fullest. One can attribute this to a more grassroots level issue. According to Prof. Gudi, HoD of the Chemical Department, Indian schooling shuns the importance of hands-on tinkering and application of analytical thinking from a very early stage, with more emphasis on rote learning. He feels that students should, from a young age, develop an inquisitive mentality. He believes that this is one of the shortcomings that IIT Bombay’s engineering students face as compared to their Ivy League counterparts. Funding is definitely a big issue that inhibits us from being at par with the top universities world wide. IIT Bombay’s budget is 140 million dollars per annum. Many of the top 50 universities in the QS world ranking have budgets which surpass ours by more than a factor of 10. The institute is trying hard to overcome this obstacle by increasing collaboration with the industry and also involving philanthropists in some of the projects. According to the Director, Prof. Chaudhuri, “In India, we grow first and plan later.” In this article we covered how IIT Bombay is slowly setting that narrative straight with every passing year and we hope that we can go from strength to strength in our quest to become one of the world’s best technological universities.
BODY SHAMING Contributors- Pushkar Lohiya, Mahima Sethi, Siddharth Mehta, Valay Agrawal, Roshni Singh, Ashita Yedida, Kumael Doongerwala, Anushka Mandal, Pratik Solapurwala
Body idealisation has been ingrained in us long enough for body shaming to seem as an alien concept. The purpose of this article is to shine a spotlight on this topic and spark up a much-needed discussion among the student community of IIT Bombay about the way body shaming has shaped our lives.
Could you briefly describe your encounter with body shaming and your reaction at the time?
Introduction: The idea of the perfect body has been with us for a very long time. Though the ideal body has morphed over time, the desire and impulse to strive towards achieving it have not. Ideas of feminine beauty and masculine grandeur were already in place in ancient India, as can be seen from the sculptures and paintings of various eras. The artists of different ancient schools of art were known to have a set of proportions, like the golden ratio, which were considered “beautiful”. Although these proportions have been fluid over time with some eras having voluptuous figures being seen as attractive, there has always been a clear societal notion of one feature “superior” to other. Over time, global influence has modified the perception of what the perfect body is, to its present form, and these ideals are constantly reinforced by movies, social media, and the cosmetic industry. Men and women alike are constantly compared to society’s preconceived notions of beauty and this serves as a prominent device of judgment in society. This is the basis of body shaming. It is essential to note that given the complex and sensitive nature of this issue, analyzing a local population gives a lot more insight instead of generic information transfer. Keeping this in mind, the majority of the article is based on a survey conducted by Insight on Body Shaming. We received more than 500 responses with a variety of opinions and suggestions from the student populace of our institute
What constitutes Body Shaming? It is critical to realize that body shaming not only covers fat-shaming but also includes any insult that makes the victim feel insecure about their physical appearances like height, color, or any other bodily features. In agreement with the above responses, shaming can manifest itself in various ways forms: Criticizing your own appearance, through a judgment or comparison to another person. (i.e.: “I’m so ugly compared to him/her.” “Look at how broad my shoulders are.”) Criticizing another’s appearance in front of them, (i.e.: “With those thighs, you’re never going to find a date.”) Criticizing another’s appearance without their knowledge. (i.e.: “Did you see what she’s wearing today? Not flattering.” “At least you don’t look like him/her!”). No matter how this manifests, it often leads to comparison and shame, and perpetuates the idea that people should be judged mainly for their physical features.
Fat-Shaming
“I entered a friend’s wing once in my freshie year and at the time I was obese. One of his wingies started mocking me on how I would roll down the hill if I ever went trekking. Soon they all started making jokes. It became a competition amongst them as to who would insult me more. It wasn’t their insults but their laughter that hurt me the most. I felt powerless. I didn’t show it at the time but later that day I went to the 7th-floor balcony of H16 and cried. I felt like I didn’t have any friends. I had no one. Soon my own wingmates whom I considered friends started making fun of me. Its an Indian thing isn’t it, to humor people at the expense of someone else. I started hiding, shielding myself from others as much as possible. Their comments haunt me to this day.”
Skinny Shaming
“I am too thin. Like literally skinny thin with no curves. So it’s the first topic of discussion in any family gathering (beta kuch khaya kar itni Patli hai.. abhi bhi itni patli hai and so on) Insecurity about my body stemmed from family comments only. Now that I am older I understand that they’re not being mean to me, they’re just looking out for me, but from a very young age, I have been very self-conscious and closed off because of these incidents. Because of this, I feel I developed into an introvert as I grew older and understood social norms and expectations to look a certain way, and compared myself to how other girls start to look after a certain age. I always brush it off and act cool when someone jokes about how thin I am, even my friends.”
Positive Reinforcement:
“I have long and dense hair on my legs. I do not have a perfect eyebrow. I have a lot of facial hair. I used to keep my hair short. I do not walk in a feminine way. People used to mock me on that and how I look like a boy. I believed that I am not beautiful and decided to compensate for my lack of beauty with the intelligence of the mind. But after coming to IIT things changed. People here loved me for who I am and no one gives any attention to how I look. That gave me confidence and now I even love my external appearance.”
Do you think body-shaming can be justified in some cases?
How can you look out for someone without indulging in Body Shaming? An overwhelming majority of the responses focussed on fat-shaming in particular. A sizable chunk believed that rather than using an accusatory tone to shame someone into a healthier lifestyle, inviting someone to join you in a healthy habit or adopting a ‘Sport for health’ attitude was better. Many respondents suggested alternatives to body shaming such as the acceptance of all body types, and recognising the role in one’s body shape played by past medical issues, eating disorders, mental health, hormonal problems, and the like. Related to this was the suggestion of not choosing nicknames that demean someone’s body, but rather looking at their skills for any positive nickname. Advertisements reflect and shape society’s ideals too. We see commercials today that promote only a certain body type that allows you to be happy- such as being taller, fairer, skinnier, etc.
Among the responses that we received, the following distribution was observed. Around 30% said that it is OK to body-shame so that the person being shamed works towards a healthy lifestyle. More than half of those said it is important or necessary or helps the people who are fat to realize it and work towards being healthier. Around 60% said that it is not OK to do it Around 7% said that it is justifiable as a joke.
Suggestions in this regard ranged from sticking to scientific advice, speaking to them privately, being sensitive, and actively learning about and listening to their experiences before indulging in free advice. If whatever one is being body-shamed about is indeed a medical issue, a trained medical professional could guide them better, and constantly reminding them about what is wrong with them does not serve a constructive purpose.
The major share of respondents believed that body-shaming is not acceptable in any form and hence should not be justified. However, 30% of people also felt body shaming is good. They believed that it was an act of wishing well for an individual and therefore pushing them to lead a healthier lifestyle. Given that it is important to note the difference between well-wishing and shaming. Well-wishing entails the idea of being supportive and encouraging someone who is in pursuit of a healthier lifestyle. Fat-Shaming, on the other hand, is often marked by the idea of treating someone less than ideal due to their weight. It is a fine line to walk, and fat-shaming has been shown to actually lead to an increase in the weight of individuals who are a victim of the same. While striving towards an inclusive campus, it is necessary to understand the difference and use speech as a tool for helping and not hurting. Experience of body shaming and reaction-v “It is just a joke” “We are just pulling your leg” “You are over-reacting over nothing” We often utter such sentences as a response to the criticism or the backlash towards acts of body shaming. What may appear trivial and silly to us is often enough to unhinge the receiver’s entire confidence! According to the survey, a huge number of respondents, accounting to almost 75% of the responses, were affected detrimentally by the derogatory comments passed by their friends, families or strangers. While many of them learned to ignore these passes, it was still a massive psychological trauma for most of the people. Results such as loss of confidence, guilt, depressing thoughts and self-hate have been attributed to body shaming. A lot of them tried to cope by attempting to change their own body through medical procedures or extreme dieting thereby undergoing eating disorders. While others coped by working hard in other areas of life to regain their lost confidence that resulted from the so-called “harmless teasing”. Essentially what these experiences highlight is the strong adverse effect that some “mindless talk” can have on an individual’s life, and how we, in no capacity, have the right to ridicule someone’s appearance if they are being affected by the same.
Any advice for someone who may be a perpetrator without realizing it?
It can be very easy to go from being someone who only wishes to help and offer advice to being someone who is a source of mental anguish for another person. A lot of the responses emphasized on the fact that it is important we remember that nobody is perfect and everyone is unique. We must ensure that we advise only when the person approaches us and do so in a way that does not bring unwanted attention to them. Thus it is always best to do so one on one and never in front of a group. Even if we realise that we have been perpetrators, we can still make amends by acknowledging our mistake and apologising to the victim.
Can the line between teasing, advising, and body shaming shift depending on the relationship between the victim and perpetrator? If yes, how do you know where to draw the line? The majority of respondents acknowledge that the perception of shaming highly depends on the relationship between the two. This is where the line between genuine advice and body-shaming starts to get blurred. It’s hard not be in a conundrum about which side to agree with especially when the perpetrator is someone close to the victim. Most of the real-world problems are not completely black or white but are often shades of grey and hence it is crucial to consider other factors before labeling the situation as shaming. Some of these factors can be succinctly highlighted by the varying opinions in the institute: “There’s no line. We just have to be supportive and let others know how their current health status can affect their life and they should just try to weed out things that are not helping overcoming their problems.” “ The remarks of another person will be considered in some way (which could be any) depending upon the genuineness of the person making those remarks and that will depend on whether you think they have your best in their heart. So, yes, it can change with the relationship between the victim and perpetrator.” “Yes. It solely depends on the 2 people. There is no objective level of relationship. Each 2 people friendship is unique in its own way. There should be mutual understanding, and that is the only way to deal with it”
Any advice for someone dealing with the issue right now? The majority of the people in the institute believed that the best way to overcome body shaming is to ignore the taunts and the harsh words of the perpetrators. Many feel that it is important to love oneself and accept whoever you are. One of the responses aptly quoted Eleanor Roosevelt, “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.” and many others believe that confidence is key in such situations. Students added that it is necessary to take care of one’s health and fitness and perhaps it might be a good idea to work towards taking the taunts as a motivation to exercise/take care of oneself and prove them wrong. Even though the data indicates that most people do not seek any help, one doesn’t have to do that. One effective solution is to seek help by going for counseling or confiding in a close friend or relative.
Here are some things you should remember when confronted with body-shaming: Confronting the perpetrator:
Conveying your discomfort is also important as in many cases the perpetrators themselves are insecure about their own “flaws”.
Seek help:
Confiding in a close friend or relative has been an effective remedy
Identify who in your life is body-positive – or even body-neutral: Think of people who celebrate their body for what it can do, and people who refuse to comment on others’ physical appearances. Spending time with these people can be especially helpful while you are struggling with your own internalized body-shaming, and help you view yourself – and others – more positively.
Find something (or things!) you LIKE about your body: We spend so much time witnessing advertisements about how to make our eyelashes millimeters longer and how to get whiter teeth that it’d be nice to counter some of that by celebrating what we do have.
C U LT U R A L D E C L I N E ? - A H O S T E L P E R S P E C T I V E Contributors- Apurva Desai, Athul C D, Tanmay Goyal Aradhya Agarwal, Mithilesh Vaidya, Mohit Agrawal, Navjit Debnath, Piyush Agarwal, Samyak Shah, Saumya Thakur, Shaunak Vijaykumar Natarajan
Summary: Chhichhore reminded all of us about the pride in IITB’s culture we have often boasted about in front of our peers from other colleges. But, it is a widespread concern in the institute that the foundation of this culture- Hostel Culture is on the decline. We tried to dig into it and decode the frailties that are ailing us.
What is Hostel Culture? Given the premise of the article, to define hostel culture and what it entails seems pivotal. For some, it may seem rather trivial, but that further cultivates reason for this article. Hostel culture can be understood in many ways. Still, the general consensus would point towards the feeling of identification and pride towards one’s hostel, companionship with fellow hostel mates, whether juniors, contemporaries, or seniors and the emotions associated with various events and celebrations in the hostel. Firstly, considering the point of identification with one’s hostel, we have inter-hostel events like General Championships in Sports, Cult and Tech, and the never-ending pursuit of the lofty perch of insti ka baap. The GCs create a sort of intra-hostel mini fraternity, where you may find people of varying expertise but similar enthu. Interaction among these people could be otherwise unlikely, but GCs and then intra-hostel events in the same field really make it feel like a mini-fraternity. It’s quite probable that if you are involved in a particular sport’s GC, you will interact with players with whom you would continue playing with on the hostel courts. Similarly, a GC like Gyrations has created many friendships and increased involvement in hostel activities. When you spend so much time together having fun and representing your hostel, it contributes to creating a culture. Tech-enthusiasts probably find it the most advantageous, as finding and identifying people with similar interests would be a little more complicated, especially across years (possibly because of there are not too many high-involvement tech events after first year). The friendly banter surrounding insti ka baap, however jovial, does contribute to belongingness and occasional jingoism towards one’s hostel. Prof Bhaskaran Muralidharan (2001 batch alumnus and currently, a Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department) reminisces, “Seniors were very generous in giving fundae for landing excellent interns or placements. They even funded the grad school applications of some juniors. Seniors were part of everybody’s social circle and there was a sense of belongingness to the hostel.”
Next, and probably the most important, is the interaction and bonding with fellow residents. The first interactions would be with your wing, which establishes a wing culture. More often than not, this group is tightly knit and is potentially the closest group of friends you would have in your hostel, or maybe the institute. Prof Muralidharan feels that wings create a sense of belongingness among the students. and are a smart and natural way of creating social circles in hostels. Informal events where you get to know them, and they get to know you, are common. Having fun there is a harbinger for the bonds to be forged. Then the ensuing wing treats establish a sort of kinship. Fundae and other help given by seniors in hostels are sometimes crucial and quite beneficial for juniors. Juniors generally reciprocate by helping seniors pursue their endeavours, mostly by participating in some grunt work. This is a definite benefit to both parties. However, it is rarely the basis of their complete relation, rather, it could be a spark or stepping stone. Other treats in the hostel like placement or intern treats and even birthday treats/midnight events also bring together the hostel populace. These are micro-events that are omnipresent. On the other hand are the macro events like the hostel fests, the intrahostel culturals and sports activities and even gala dinners. These gatherings tend to bring the hostel together as a whole and help us in associating our run-down hostels lives with liveliness and light. Your emotion regarding your hostel is quite likely to boom after some of these macro-events. And talking about Hostel Culture, we can’t not mention the controversial ‘Valfis’ of yesteryears. These were a chain of significant hostel events in the form of Valedictory or farewell functions organized to dedicate one night for the graduating seniors. Beloved seniors would be the centre of attention, one at a time, while their peers and juniors would talk about some anecdotes of their insti lives. The senior, too, would speak about his/her insti life and how they felt about leaving the insti and its people. The Valfis would go on for hours into the night and were a significant public, hostel event. Many juniors would go sit in random Valfis and maybe even interact with the seniors, helping develop unlikely bonds.
Is Hostel Culture on a Decline? It is unfair to compare the current scenario with that of 20 years ago since smartphones and the Internet have completely changed the way we interact. Anmol Gupta, the former GSAA(UG), believes that he has witnessed a drastic drop in the junior-senior interaction over his 5-year stay at IIT Bombay. Both juniors and seniors are content with a friend circle consisting solely of their batchmates. Participation in GCs has spiralled down. Seniors are busy preparing for internships and placements while juniors hardly follow up after interacting with seniors. Conversations are formal and to-the-point, mainly regarding some help. It’s important to note that this may form a vicious cycle: if juniors fail to forge bonds with seniors in their early insti life, they fail to connect with their juniors when they progress through their insti life! We’ll delve into why this may be a bad thing in the next section.
Why should we care about this? IIT Bombay provides so much more than a degree. The culture of our campus has been shaped by generations dating back to the 1960s. It dictates how we live the most important years of our lives. We step into the campus with a naive understanding of how the world works and step out as completely transformed individuals, geared up for the challenges posed by the real world. GCs teach us the value and thrill of working in teams. Healthy interaction with seniors can help us avoid the mistakes they committed. PoRs are crucial in developing leadership qualities. Last but not the least, we make friends who remain with us even after we graduate. These friendships give meaning and purpose to our stay and we derive so much pleasure and happiness from our friendships. As retired grey-haired 60-year olds, it’s not the lessons we learnt in our classrooms which we will cherish but the silly, idiotic pranks we pulled off on our friends which will remain fresh in our memories! Since hostel culture is one of the most important driving forces behind this transformation, any changes to it should be carefully analysed. Having true friends also helps us to unwind and cope with the highly competitive environment we find ourselves in. According to Prof.Muralidharan “The PAFs and the GCs were significant events for hostel bonding. Every student was very enthusiastic, and the competition was fierce. Active participation in sports and cult events is necessary to form a close bond with your hostel mates. I suggest that there should be ‘hostel orientations’ for the incoming students. The students should make a conscious effort to increase their network.”
Causes for Decline The main cause of decline could be attributed to a decreasing focus on extracurriculars. With an increased workload, students find it difficult to take out time and participate in GCs or cheer for their hostel. GCs are not as coveted anymore and that has led to a disheartening circle: since students hardly participate, the GCs have lost their glory and since the GCs have lost their glory, the participation has dwindled! A question that some concerned people raise is: have the ‘Anti-Ragging Laws’ hampered the interaction between seniors and juniors? Prof Muralidharan says, “The ragging in my time was in the form of ‘introductions’. Although it may sound bad, they really helped one assimilate into college life. It was a perfect ice breaker. But it sometimes resulted in acute embarrassment for the freshmen. All of us have different thresholds for feeling embarrassed. All in all, ‘Anti-Ragging’ laws are useful as they ensure a safe atmosphere for the incoming students. They are well thought out and consider the sensitivity and self-respect of the students.” Since freshie-hostels are completely isolated from the senior hostels and the interaction between seniors and juniors is limited and strictly regulated, IIT Bombay proudly boasts of a ragging-free environment. However, an unintended side-effect of this arrangement is that friend circles are already formed before freshers move on to a new hostel. Spending a year with your batchmates is enough to form a core group of friends who remain with us throughout our insti life. As a result, adding seniors to this circle is difficult. Last but not the least, the smartphone revolution has crippled our ability to communicate in person. Whenever we have free time, we prefer watching Netflix or playing PUBG over a casual conversation with our next-door senior. And it is these conversations which help us kick-start new friendships.
The restructuring of hostels- expanding vertically, single rooms, hotel kind of layout - has led to a reduction in this aforementioned wing culture. With too many residents, it is difficult to form that special bond. An amusing anecdote that we came across shows an incident of how the hostel-bond can help you out in the most unexpected way. “So it was the intern season, and I had preppd a lot but I was still very nervous and didn’t sleep properly. I went in and started to panic in the very first few minutes, I already knew I had messed up but then suddenly somewhere out of the blue the interviewer asked me my hostel, and incidentally he also turned out to have been in H4 earlier. That struck a common chord between us and we started talking about the hostel and some relatively lighter stuff. That made me calm down and I got my nerves back and I was able to answer his questions more aptly, finally getting me selected too.”
Suggestions With ever-increasing competition, it is indisputable that students are forced to devote more time to academics. So, the best place to initiate a conversation with a senior is within your own department. Talk to your lab RAs. They might not have cleared JEE but they have experienced the real world, are more mature than undergrads and one can learn a lot from them, not just regarding academics but about life in general. The DGSec of EE believes that his decision to switch from B.Tech to Dual-Degree was heavily influenced by his interaction with lab RAs. An insight into the work they carry out under professors inspired him to make the switch. Freshie orientation is the first official interaction between juniors and seniors. If seniors don’t come off as helpful and approachable, freshers are hesitant to initiate a conversation. A former council member of the Chemical department argues that the freshie orientation is one-sided: most of the talking is done by the seniors. It needs to be rethought from scratch. Treks, trips, Kurta Days, cultural nights, etc. should be designed in a way which maximises the interaction between juniors and seniors. Students working under professors should periodically present their work to an open audience: it can serve as an excellent icebreaker. Not only will it boost interaction between juniors and seniors but also expose students to the world of research at an early stage. DAMP mentors have an excellent platform for interacting with juniors. Hence, they should shoulder the responsibility of introducing their mentees to other seniors, their wing members and keep in touch regularly, not just regarding academics but chat about life in general! Sports is one of the best means of uniting people. Intra-departmental and interdepartmental tournaments can increase the bonding between juniors and seniors within the department. It is during long practice hours when juniors and seniors open up and share their experiences, wisdom and a bit of banter, which lays the foundation for a friendship!
Conclusion After 2 years of dedicated preparation for JEE, we make up for our lost social life by exploiting the newly-found freedom! A few years later, we bid adieu to this place with memories etched in our hearts and friendships which last till eternity. Hostel culture plays a crucial role in this transformation. The relationships forged in our hostel wings, Gyan imparted by seniors, the hunger to win GCs, and the long nights spent in hostel council meets are some of the experiences which are enabled by a thriving hostel culture. It isn’t surprising that a conversation with any alum always begins with the question, ‘Which hostel did you belong to?’! Such is the impact the hostel has on one’s insti life! We should be alarmed by the sharp decline in hostel culture. It is a key component of our insti culture and we all have a moral responsibility to preserve it, improve it and pass it on to the next generation. We might not be able to replicate the culture we saw in Chhicchore but by taking a few steps in the right direction, we can ensure that the IITB culture is renewed. Hostel culture is an ever evolving meta-physical construct. We believe that it will rise from its ashes like a phoenix. Currently, it might be in a state of decline because of various factors addressed in the article like infrastructural changes, technological changes over the years, but that doesn’t mean it is dying. A new hostel culture might actually be forming reflecting the spirit of the modern times.
ISSUES OF IMMIN EN CE IN THE IN STITUTE OF EMI NENCE Contibutors- Abhinav Anand, Purushottam Sahu, Siddharth Mehta, Sreya Reddy Desham, Anish Shivamani, Ashish
Intro IIT Bombay comes among the top institutions in India and is widely renowned in the world for its students. From India’s perspective, we have the best research facilities, excellent research output and distinguished professors. Recently, we were bestowed with the honour of being an ‘Institute of Eminence’. From the outside, everything looks great and shiny. However, one important thing which never gets to fore is the dismal living conditions in student hostels. In this article, we are going to elucidate on a few major problems faced by the students residing in the seventeen hostels in IIT Bombay. We have collected information from maintenance councillors or secretaries from all the hostels over the past month. We have also talked to the institute’s administration, GSHA and general secretaries of different hostels regarding the same. We have tried our best to cover all the grievances, however, it is possible that we may have missed some of the grievances. We’d like to request you to share them with the greater student community on Insight Discussion Forum (IDF), so that the severity of problems could be addressed by the concerned administrative bodies.
Repairing is ongoing in hostels, but it primarily takes place in summer and winter break. During the semester, students are too reluctant to vacate the rooms and the condition of the hostel stays the same. This hits the repair process seriously. Summers and winter also prove insufficient due to room retentions for camps, PhD interviews, fests, etc. One solution which Arbaj Ahmed, General Secretary Hostel Affairs 2019-20, suggests for next year is to cut down the number of rooms given out for retention. While roofs are being repaired, balconies need to be brought down. A tender has been passed for the same but we see no further progress as it is impossible to remove the balconies while rooms are occupied. One precaution, for the time being, is to not to visit the balconies. An official email on hostel forum from the hostel Gsec clearly stated “Till then (demolition), it is an official instruction from the estate office to avoid using the balconies in any circumstances and no responsibility would be held upon estate office or the council if someone gets injured using the balcony. ”
STRUCTURE IN SHAMBLES Renounced fear Recently, H7, H8 and H4 (partially) were vacated as the ceiling started to come off, and cracks were seen in pillars of the main structure. Students were shifted to the newly constructed H18 since the likelihood of an accident was increasing with every passing day. While a few structures are rendered unfit for living, the conditions of few older hostels are disconcerting as well. Three balconies have fallen in H2 in the last two years, and cracks are present in the building structure, but students still live in the hostel sidelining the threat it poses to life. This problem is not only limited to H2 but even in H4 and H6 where the ceiling came off in a few wings and crevices are conspicuous.
New constructions are in full swing but we will still be short on space. We barely have rooms to accommodate new entrants, finding a place for students residing in older hostel seems far-fetched. H17 will be completed earliest by December of 2020. Plot allocation for hostels 19 and 20 has been done but it will take time to build those. By the time students see the face of new hostels, proper maintenance of older hostels is a dire necessity as it takes courage to allay with the fears.
It’s raining inside Another infrastructural issue that is well-nigh leaking into our hostels is, well, water. Leakages during monsoons in washrooms and ceilings of rooms have somewhat become a ubiquitous problem that students face. The students living on the 1st and 2nd floors of H2 enjoy a creepy experience of visiting washrooms housing algal and fungal growth on walls due to rainfall. There has been paintwork going on to rectify the situation. The ceilings in the hostel also bear signs of leakage during monsoon, with dripping waters in many rooms. H3 can be seen as H2’s victim in crime in this respect. H11 periodically bears the wrath of monsoon in the form of damping problems, leakages, and algal and fungal growth on washroom walls. The girls’ H10 has had damping problems since its very foundation, similar to H11. The H10 Gsec Kamini Sabu told us “Every monsoon complaints are received, repairs are done after the monsoon, there is no way of testing until the next monsoon and the same cycle repeats”. In some rooms of H10, the issue remains that of damping but in rooms that face the monsoon winds from Powai lake, water leaks and percolates down to the floors. Lack of waterproofing has led to leakages in washrooms too. Due to cyclical repair work for these issues, many of the rooms in both the girls’ hostels become unavailable, leading to accommodation problems. The leakages were also troubling in H12, this monsoon . There was an initiative by workers to tile the balcony walls but that was halted on students’ criticism of funds getting wasted; like karmic retribution, all the un-tiled balconies faced leakages later.
Currently, the area beside D wing is used for parking vehicles by staff and security persons and the solution seems to accommodate not many but at least a good fraction of bikes. But the administration has its own constraints. Dean IPS says “Nowadays we don’t have enough funds. Our current priority with the limited funds that we have is to build and maintain the rooms in hostels. We currently have a space crunch situation after the demolition of H7 and H8 alongside the growing intake of students from next year onwards”. The parking issue is not just limited to the trio; H2, H3, the freshie H15 & H16 and others also face the same problem. Lack of parking isn’t an immediate concern in H2 and H3 but the fact that students tend to take new bikes and the old ones just degrade and eat up space is really an issue to be addressed. Several attempts of revamping old bikes or leasing them to students for use by the council of hostel affairs have failed. Now the admin is cooking up a plan to get away with this piling debris of bikes and vehicles near the library. The Dean IPS told us “The administration is planning to give a debris collection contract to concerned authorities. They will collect this debris from all these areas. The plan will be implemented soon”.
Housing outside the insti The MHRD ministry has decided to increase the student intake of IITs by introducing a quota of EWS (Economically weaker sections). While the decision was applauded, the IITB administration faced a challenge to accommodate these extra number of students. Our two old hostel structures H7 and H8 have been declared unsafe, H17 haven’t been completed yet and most of the rooms in the institute are already occupied. In light of this foreseen problem, the Dean SA and the council of hostel affairs have implemented a plan of satellite housing. The major step taken is to accommodate some of the students preferably the next batch of first-year MTech students, outside the institute. On enquiring for the reasons to choose MTechs, he says “Many undergraduates have no experience of living outside and moreover they are underaged, which is why the institute can’t afford to risk their safety. On the other hand, MTech students are more mature and they can easily adapt to life outside the campus.”
Common spaces Students living in the older hostel might regard these problems as trifling, but the maintenance Councillor of H18 sounded serious and why should he not be. Students enjoy the facility of a common room in all the other hostels. However, H18 still does not have a common room. The same goes with study rooms, their absence in hostels is a shared concern amongst many. Students feel indignation since H2 has a study room and has restricted its usage to the hostel residents only. A proposal for a study room is there in H3 as well, but only at the cost of the tech room. They can only provide space for either a study or a tech room. Since H18 does not have a common room, the possibility of a study room soon is also improbable. Funds for study rooms are insufficient in H6 and H10 where it has been proposed as well. The proposals have been protracted for a long time and construction has been delayed while students long for a study space.
Conclusion IIT-B is one of the world-renowned technological institutes and a paradigm of excellence in India. Over 10000 students come to the institute from all across the nation and beyond. IIT Bombay has been bestowed with the honourable title of ‘Institute of Eminence’. However, the ‘Issues of Imminence’ are something that needs dire attention. Many students stay here on campus for almost half a decade, making the campus their home away from home. So, it is but natural for them to be disheartened about the hearteningly dispassionate redressal of various infrastructural issues plaguing the IIT-B hostels.
There is no shed for my bike The bicycle parking issue is quite prominent all over the institute, but it has created quite a menace in the trio of Hostel 12,13,14. Because of its location at the very far point of the campus, most of the students prefer to buy bikes. Since there’s no shed or allocated space for parking; the students park them around the cone; above the mess area. Seems like no issue, right? Just build some shed over and across the mess and our bicycles would be safe. Unexpectedly the issue is much more complicated than that for the administration and hostel Gsecs. The contractor and the administration both agree that the overburdening weight of the bikes over the mess actually increases the problem of water leakage along the cone of mess. The Gsec of H12, Akhilendra, says “We have tried to explain it so many times that the problem is not with the weight of bikes but with the poor quality of construction. But the administration doesn’t listen to us. We have also proposed an alternative solution to build multistorey parking beside the D-wing of the H12, but the administration says it’s not feasible”.
A D VA N C E D B .T E C H O R P R E L I M I N A RY P H D ? Contributors- Suman Mondal, Purushottam Sahu, Tanmay Goyal, Namit Agrawal, Rohit Prince, M A Rohit, Divyansh Natani, Fenil Soni, Aryan, Abhishek Raj
Reforms in Master Technical education has been a much debated topic in the recent past with our institute witnessing multiple protest marches last year. Although the decision to hike fees and abolish scholarships was later put on hold. We try to look behind the necessities and rationale behind such a hike. Quoting our institute, the broad aim of the M.Tech programme is “to train students in deeper theoretical knowledge which will enable them to tackle practical complex problems of design and development in industrial ields, as well as pursue further academic achievements through research”. This sounds perfect and seems like a great balance between academic and industrial research.
Introduction September 27, 2019. The IIT council convened and decided upon a number of issues, one of which was a fee hike for the M. Tech programme. Reason? “Students are not interested enough and view the programme as a “stop-gap” arrangement until they land jobs, resulting in a high dropout rate”, according to the IIT-Delhi Director. These problems, it was argued, could be solved by making the cost of M.Tech programmes somehow at par to that of the B.Tech programmes and the abolition of the scholarships, besides non-monetary recommendations such as the overhaul of these programmes to make them comparable to industrial standards and requirements. Although the decision has since then been deferred, this article takes a closer look at the issue, discusses the rationale and implications of such a proposal, while also putting into perspective models of higher education in some other countries. We also present opinions collected through interviews of key individuals in the education sector, and end with questions that we should all be asking, as a society, about such policies. We had conducted a Vox Pop on the same issue back in October 2019, when protests were conducted by the campus residents over the same (Refer IITBBC tab on insightiitb.org).
Drop Outs & Fund Crunch The motivations and reasons given by the Director of IITD, V. Ramgopal Rao, for the fee hike are worth considering. According to him, the IITs currently bearing heavy amounts of loans for infrastructural development are wasting their money and underutilizing their resources on MTech students who leave this programme for public sector jobs or preparing for govt jobs. In one of his Twitter posts[1], he has stated “Many students take admission into the M.Tech programmes and over 50% of them quit as soon as they find a job. Among the remaining, many prepare for other competitive examinations and have no interest in what they are pursuing.” Currently the IITD alone bears 580 crores of loan and the burden carried by IIT Bombay is also similar to that amount. Professor Anil Sadgopal, an educationist, RTE activist and former professor at the University of Delhi, expressed sadness on the entire issue and shared a contrary point of view “This is the Tragedy of the Economy which would harm the nation. Such statements mean they consider this institution as a commercial centre and not a government institution. It is a neo-liberal concept that losses are happening. Education builds the foundation of the nation and therefore it should not be weighted in profit and losses.”
Sponsored M.Tech A press notification issued by the Govt. of India also points out a need to go towards market oriented courses and in one of their points, they mentioned “IITs will offer only those programmes that have demand in the market. This will ensure immediate placement after the completion of the course” [2]. Prof Sadgopal again pointed out that it is also important that IIT “is not run on the demands of the market and this is the reason why students from IITs have been able to give back to society in many ways.”
Prof. Rao emphasizes the need to do away with the programmes that are outdated, and make our curriculum more aligned towards the market demand. He stressed that it is time for private industries like Texas Instruments, Samsung, IBM, Intel, General Electric, Micron and many others to start investing in M.Tech programmes in IITs and also work with these institutions closely to make the M.Tech programmes relevant. While the modified CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) rules do allow this now, the question raised by students is that without starting such programmes and doing on-ground progress in reforming these M.Tech programmes, will removal of fellowship and a hike in the fees serve the purpose? This is what students pointed out when we conducted a vox pop on this issue back in October 2019. In an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session conducted online on the Insight Discussion Forum, we asked Prof. Somyo Banerjee whether the reforms in M. Tech programmes would result in more inclination towards research. He replied that the information floating around is just a compilation of personal speculations, but the programme can undergo massive change since many students are not serious towards contributing to research. He also mentioned that the MTech curriculum will probably become more immediately market oriented than fundamental research oriented. He added that “the current nature of MTech, thus, is becoming like a slightly specialized BTech programme”.
Education Models in different countries To understand the global scenario for higher education, the path to reform and progress worldwide, we have compared the models as well as fee structures of higher education followed by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries as a proxy for other developing nations. Within this, we have excluded a detailed discussion on Brazil, as it is a unique case which can’t be extrapolated to India. This is mostly because of its economic crisis after 2014. We have also tried to analyze the issues and policy solutions that have been adopted by developed countries like the USA and Australia. Within each of these models we try to get a look at what we can take home from the scenario in these countries. The Indian education sector recently saw a 142% ( 2013-2016) jump in NPAs (Non Performing Assets) which means that most students are defaulting on education loans. This increase has been attributed to multiple reasons like high drop-out rates, the rising cost of education and difficulty in getting an initial job [3]. Any hike will lead to a further increase in the cost of education. This problem of loan defaults is now being seen in multiple developing countries. Here we first discuss the case of South Africa.
SOUTH AFRICA South Africa has an education system similar to India with nearly one million students registered at 26 public universities, while 7,00,000 students are registered at more than 50 higher education training colleges (TVET colleges – Technical vocational education training). An additional 90,000 students can be found at various private institutions. The South African education system had fees which were unaffordable for the average household but has provided loans for the poor in the country. But according to reports of the CMI (Chr. Michelin Institute) this has also led to the middle class bearing the cost for most of the expenditure. #FeesMustFall has been a nation-wide protest in South Africa which had forced the government to discuss multiple solutions such as the abolition of tuition fees in favour of full direct state funding of the universities among others [4]. There can be two lessons that can be drawn from this. The fees rise should be in a positive trajectory in order to accommodate the lower middle class which are not entitled to loans or MCM (merit-cum-means) scholarships and also have to bear high costs regarding coaching and boarding.
References: [1] V. Ramagopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi. Twitter Post (29th Sept, 2019) https://twitter.com/ramgopal_rao/status/1178263704942415873?lang=en [2] V. Ramagopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi. Twitter Post (29th Sept, 2019) https://twitter.com/ramgopal_rao/status/1178299830315016192?lang=en [3] It Makes Little Sense to Blame Students for India’s Growing Loan Default Problem (31st July, 2017) https://thewire.in/education/serious-indias-student-loan-default-problem [4] Crisis at South Africa’s universities – what are the implications for future cooperation with Norway? Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI Brief vol. 16 no. 3) 4 p https://www.cmi.no/publications/6180-crisis-at-south-africas-universities-what-are-the
Given the structural barriers to entry to higher education, an active effort needs to be made to ensure that subsidies actually permeate to the needy. The lack of active effort means that any fee waiver or subsidy is going to benefit the upper-middle class much more than penetration to the disadvantaged people. This penetration is critical for maintaining fairness in the system as people with tertiary education find it easier to get high paying jobs leading to an increase in inequality. A mix of these two lessons could increase the effectiveness of the application of the current scholarship/subsidy system.
RUSSIA AND CHINA
Russia and China have a comparatively less expensive system due to the highly subsidized nature of education in these countries. China is in a sweet spot with respect to higher education as high levels of economic growth have meant that graduates find it easier to grab high paying jobs which ensures their capacity to pay back even if they need to take a loan. One of the reasons for the high NPA in India’s education system has been the lack of jobs for graduates. Placements were at just 46% in 2016-17 as revealed by the Rajya Sabha in July 2018 [5,6]. Comparatively slow economic growth in India has been seen as a reason for this, along with unemployability, skill gap, etc [7]. According to an unemployment survey report made by CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt Ltd) in 2019 [8], the unemployment rate for post-graduates remained high but it has not deteriorated since 2016 when it was 24.6 percent. In 2017, it increased to 25.4 percent, then fell to 22.3 percent in 2018 and rose again to 23 percent in 2019.
AUSTRALIA
Australia is a unique example of an efficient loan dispensation system. Australia’s Higher Education Loan Program (or HELP) is an income-based repayment plan. Australia has high tuition fees leading to a situation in which most people couldn’t afford it. The system adjusts the payment according to the income of a person. Eg.: Debtors earning more than AU$54,000 ($38,000) pay between 4 to 8 percent of their income, depending on how much they take home annually [9,10]. Even if the debtors suffer from illness or there’s a temporary discontinuation of earnings; there are measures to take care of these situations. Payments temporarily cease, with no interest or penalties accruing to the borrower. This plan has made the repayment easier for students as they experience a variation in income before they finally settle down. The issue with this system is that it makes education job-oriented and is not feasible for post-graduate research focussed study. However, the implementation can be tuned further in this case to give the graduates a chance to complete their higher education before the repayment kicks in, or tune the repayment in line with the stipend that the student often earns in this case.
USA
A widely cited example of privatization of education is the USA. Despite the perception that the West would have figured out the problem, the student loan burden in the US is about $1.6 trillion and rising, mostly because people have barely made a dent in paying down their loans. The USA provides federal loans with a variety of term structure and borrowing constraints. Despite that, multiple trends are seen which are worrying about the growth of the system. The USA has less funding ( in terms of subsidy) in higher education than most developed countries. This has meant a large amount of tuition fee is to be borne by the students. With the post-financial crisis, the college premium, or the difference in the income of a college graduate and high school graduate, has considerably reduced, while tuition fees have risen. These factors have combined in large outstanding loans. Another trend has been pointed out in the social distribution of these defaults with white men having paid off 44% of their student-loan balance on average. For white women, that share drops to 28%. For black borrowers, the picture is even bleaker. Black women see their loan balances actually grow 13% on average, 12 years after leaving school, while black men see their balances grow 11% [11].
Here also, there are two sets of issues that emerge right away: With a variety of students entering IITs with starkly different socio-economic backgrounds, a similar crisis may be seen in IITs if a large amount of tuition fees is to be paid by students. These trends follow due to a differential level of employability and the wage gap between different social classes. A second aspect is higher student burden in branches with lower job prospects (like BA etc, despite loans for all degrees having the same interest rate). Given the wide disparity of placement packages between students of different departments, it could mean lower enrollment in certain departments and overcrowdedness into certain coveted departments. If we assume all departments have equal research value and impact then we could lose out on a large amount of research potential again. Given that high fees is being proposed as inevitable in order to meet multiple government objectives like reducing dropouts, better funding, etc. and the inability of the commercial banking system to take the burden of higher lending due to balance sheet stress and high existing NPAs in the education sector, we need to develop a model which lowers the negative impact on the most vulnerable classes and doesn’t make higher education a luxury, rather, making it a fundamental benefit which everyone has access to.
Possible consequences Now that the problems that lead to construction of these reforms has been discussed and global scenarios explored, we would like to point out some more concerns that have come up in light of the recently proposed reforms.
Women in Education
It is often seen in India that education or more precisely higher education for women is a second priority in any family. Therefore it is a matter of concern that this could lead to further decrease in the inclusion of women in higher education.
New IITs facing decreased admissions
The older IITs which have more resources, industrial connections and also have a larger pool of students aspiring to take admissions may justify these reforms. But we must also keep in mind that smaller and newer IITs may see large scale decrease in admissions
Weaker departments
While certain programmes which would have greater industrial demand in India would attract more industrial funding as well as students, programmes which are less attractive in terms of industrial collaboration but future scope of development and demand maybe discontinued due to market orientation.
Poor & Middle Class Students
While the press notification did talk about financial support for needy students, it is also to be kept in mind whether or not the Indian middle class students would be able to sustain without scholarship as well as higher fee.
Conclusion Reforms in education always helps us to stay in tune with the ever changing global realities, and are a necessity in any progressive society. Having said that, it is also imperative that we identify the right problems and tackle them with the right solutions. There is always a grey area here though, as it is often unclear what is a right or wrong reform unless it is implemented and the results are out. But, at the same time we must have the willingness to learn from others, the models discussed here are a small peek into the global ways and responses to reform. It is necessary that we learn and improve upon these ways so that our mistakes are tuned too! “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” Eleanor Roosevelt
[5,6] Education loan NPAs on the rise. The Hindu (14th Jan,2019) https://www.thehindu.com/education/education-loan-npa/article25957682.ece; Steep rise in bad loans in Education sector. The Economic Times (5th Jan, 2019) https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/steep-rise-in-bad-loans-in-education-sector/articleshow/67383941.cms?from=mdr [7] The real unemployment challenge. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. (21st Jan, 2020) https://www.cmie.com/kommon/bin/sr.php?kall=warticle&dt=2020-01-21%2009:51:47&msec=203 [8] Over 80% Indian engineers are unemployable, lack new-age technology skills: Report. India Today (21st March, 2019) https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/over-80-indian-engineers-are-unemployable-lack-new-age-technology-skills-report-1483222-2019-03-21 [9,10] Australia’s student loan problem is a teachable moment for the U.S. The Brookings Institution (2nd March, 2018). https://www.brookings.edu/research/australias-student-loan-problem-is-ateachable-moment-for-the-u-s/; How Australia Gets Student Loans Right. SLATE (12th Nov, 2015) https://slate.com/business/2015/11/australias-student-loan-system-should-make-americans-jealous.html [11] 12 years after starting college, white men have paid off 44% of their student loans, while black women owe 13% more. (11th Aug 2019) https://www.marketwatch.com/story/12-years-after-startingcollege-white-men-have-paid-off-44-of-their-student-loans-and-black-women-owe-13-more-2019-06-06 ) https://time.com/5662626/student-loans-repayment/
LEISURE Contributors- Apurva Desai, Athul C D, Mahima Sethi, Alen Rujis, Ark Modi, Ojasvi Kumar, Rishi Rathi, Shubham Rankawat, Vedant Bang
Disclaimer:The article is intended from a humorous perspective, and we do not intend to hurt the sentiments of any community, be it student, caste, creed, or religion. We do, however, not guarantee that you will agree with all that is mentioned, but we hope you do enjoy the article in all its purposes and intent.
Introduction
Look, we get it - you love conspiracies. We can’t blame you, we do too. But we won’t be talking about how 9/11 was an inside job, or even who shot John F. Kennedy, rather about our own institute and our own daily grinds. What we have here are conspiracies about the institute- some exciting, some that require a bit of thought, and some that will just make you go, “This isn’t a conspiracy, it’s a straight-up fact!” which we, however, assure you isn’t the case. So without further ado, let’s get to discussing these conspiracies.
An old wives’ tale prevalent in the institute says shouting the name of IBs in the interview room greatly enhances the chances of getting the job/ internship
Legend has it, shouting ‘IB! IB!’ in the interview room has a rather enchanting effect, wrapping the recruiter in its allure, and dazzling them with the sheer aura these IBs have, just like those starry-eyed freshmen. Some may say that these recruiters might know some students beforehand, but hey! How could we as students know them beforehand? After all, it’s common knowledge that the recruiters are fair and give no one an undue advantage over others, isn’t it? Also as a good measure, ‘IB!, IB!’ to enhance your chances of landing a lucrative job/internship.
Rise of the planet of cows
Mess food tastes terrible, just so we order more food from startups created by our alumni
ASC is an ITSP project
We’ve lost so much enthu in our first year, it is a major reason a lot of us are miserable today
A theory says that the bull attack that happened last year was a conspiracy by cows, following which, the cattle on campus got their very own brand new Gaushala. Yes, as strange and outlandish as this may sound, it is actually very plausible. For the uninitiated, in June’19, a vigorous bull rammed at full pace into a poor innocent summer intern. The student was hospitalised, and fortunately, he recovered in a few days, but the whole incident created havoc among instizens as to who might become the next bullseye (get it?). This also sparked a debate about what should be done with the cattle in insti, which eventually led to the creation of a lavish 5-star gaushala for our horned fellow instizens. Coming back to the theory and its proof: the insti has herds of 10th generation cows and bulls who have been our fellow instizens since the conception of IITB. While all the hooman residents get to live in their posh penthouse-style rooms (okay, maybe a bit of a stretch eh?), the poor cows had nowhere to go. More often than once, they were also seen gathering in front of the convo hall, mooing their opinions, which was possibly a protest for better living conditions.
Think about it, you face problems registering, you face problems just logging into ASC. Why is that? Well, we did some digging and have some reasons to believe that ASC is actually an ITSP project. Now keeping in mind the fact that they were only freshers having completed CS101 when they made the project, please don’t be too quick to criticise them. You already know who to criticize though- your wingmates and friends, because of course, they gotta register at the same time as you, don’t they?.
College fests are a pyramid/ponzi scheme
Almost everyone at IIT Bombay has worked for a fest at some point of their inst life. A recurring theme is a hierarchy in the organizational scheme. There is an OC who recruits 20 odd thirdies as managers/CGs with lucrative promises. These guys then recruit 50-100 sophomores with the promise that one day they will be among the select group of managers. These coordinators then recruit hundreds of bright-eyed (gullible?) freshers who proudly wear their organizer cards as badges of honour. So maybe the next Bernie Madoff might just be from our institute, so watch out for this space.
PoRs are overrated, it’s just society’s way to keep us occupied (?)
Do you know that schools were the greatest conspiracy against humanity? That modern education system was designed to teach future factory workers to be “punctual, docile, and sober”? If you think along similar lines, it’s apparent that a link exists between the creation of more and more PoRs in insti and the need for corporate slaves.
You may be aware that the founders of popular food delivery startups, like Zomato and Swiggy, are actually IIT alumni, but little did you know they were actually behind the reason why the mess food is so sickening.
Have we ever felt that same enthusiasm- shouting for freebies, fighting over them, basically acting like hooligans- that we did during our orientations? It was love at first sight, or so you thought. It started with the classic, “Enthu dikhao junta”. You could not abstain from the allure of this “One of a kind slogan” and you did what was asked of you, you showed them all your enthu. You rub your eyes in astonishment as you see it coming towards you. It’s too good to be true. No later than that, you realize you were right as you see it being taken away from you just like your crush, adding more to your trust issues. We are really sorry no one told you life was going to be this way, and that the ratio of happy days to struggles would be as good as the ratio of single girls to single guys in insti.
If you find a senior giving unsolicited fundae, chances are he/she will try to recruit you in a cult during your stay in the institute. And by a cult, we mean polt. Have you met a senior (read sophomore) who said “if you have any pains in acads or life in general feel free to ping me”. Even if you don’t ping them they will fill you with fundae on everything from managing acads and time management to getting a date for salsa night? Well then let us tell you they’re just trying to get you to join a cult. Here’s one free advice from our side, don’t forget to ask those enthu sophies their success stories before you go around following their advice!
H4 students were allotted single rooms because if the hostel collapses the damages will be halved
Rooms in H4, which were of double occupancy, have now been made single occupancy. Yeah, the very rooms that are known to introduce claustrophobia to inmates. The rooms were never designed for two people; for that matter, are they even good for one person? Now that it’s structurally unstable and about to collapse any day, single occupancy means less load on the structure. It also means less casualties in case of any unfortunate event.
Chief Editors’ Note
Hey! Every year, through our Newsletters, we try to bring to you, articles which we feel will have the most significant impact on the reader, focusing majorly on relevant issues. Our hope is that by bringing forward these issues to you, we’ll be able to provide you with articles that matter, while at the same time raising issues of importance in the institue. Via this edition, our second Insight Newsletter, we have tried to talk about some pressing topics whose relevance has been felt numerous times in our day-to-day life on campus. Be it the conditions of our hostels, common concerns with regards to academics that we all face, or the issues of social cause in the society, we have tried to give justice to these important topics. Even though we try our best to keep an ear to the ground, there are always issues of importance that we might have missed, and that is why we play high importance on the suggestions and feedback that we get from students. If there’s an issue that’s close to your heart, feel free to approach us and together we can work on representing the issue in the best manner possible! Cheers! Saman and Varun
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Editorial Board:
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