Govt introduces bill to permit 15 IIITs award degrees

As many as 15 Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) set up under public-private partnership mode will soon be granted the powers to award degrees to their students.

To give effect to this, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday introduced in the Lok Sabha the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public-Private Partnership) Bill, 2017, which seeks to declare 15 functional IIITs, set up under public-private partnership mode, as institutions of national importance. These institutes are required to be given statutory status and enable them to "grant degrees to the students", according to the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the bill.

The power of IIITs to grant degrees would enhance their acceptability and since students of five such institutes would be completing their graduation in July and August this year, there is an urgent need to confer the statutory status on them, it said.

To help address the challenges faced by the country's information technology industry, the government has decided to set up 20 IIITs under the public-private partnership mode. Among others, the bill provides powers to "hold examinations and grant degrees, diplomas and other academic distinctions or title and to confer honorary degrees".