IIT Kharagpur introduces semester away programme, abolishes branch change option
The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur has introduced major reforms in the undergraduate programmes from the academic year 2024-25, in keeping with the spirit of the National Educational Policy (NEP).
For those UG students taking admission in 2024, they will now have the option of earning a ‘Double Major’ simultaneously along with the BTech (Hons) or BS (Hons) degree in the departments in which they take admission. The ‘Double Major’ programme will be offered by several departments. Depending upon their interest and aptitude, the students can register for ‘Double Major’ in any discipline. For example, a student pursuing BTech (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering can opt for a ‘Double Major’ in Economics or a student pursuing BS (Hons) in Physics can opt for a ‘Double Major’ in Electronics and Electrical Communications Engineering or Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).
Also, starting 2024-25, admission to all UG programmes will be for four-year, BTech and BS levels only. The students will get an opportunity to opt for the five-year ‘Dual Degree’ programmes after second or third year of their study. Depending upon their suitability and interest, the students can choose a five-year Dual Degree programme in his/her parent department or he/she can also choose the Interdisciplinary Dual Degree Programmes (IDDP) offered by several schools and centres of the institute. This will also create interesting possibilities such as a BS (Hons) in Economics with MTech in AI and ML or a BTech (Hons) in Civil Engineering with MTech in Financial Engineering, said IIT-K in a press statement. The institute believes, these changes will facilitate the students to make informed choice after spending few semesters at IIT-K for Dual Degree, instead of making the choice before they join the institute.
Also, the institute has abolished the branch change option at the end of the first year for UG students who get admitted through JEE (Advanced). “This is done to reduce the level of stress some students undergo to secure higher grades for branch change and availability of the option. Less than 10 percent of the students manage to change their branch every year, leaving the remaining 90 percent students dejected who undergo depression, sometime resulting in serious mental health issues and poor performance in subsequent semesters. The announcement of this new measure has been overwhelmingly welcomed by the existing students as well,” said IIT-K in a press release.
From the academic year 2024-25, IIT Kharagpur is also introducing the Semester Away Program (SAP) for the undergraduate students. Under SAP, a UG student can spend one semester either in another reputed national or international institute or industry or research laboratories and earn full credits equivalent to the semester credits. If required, the UG students can also combine their mandatory summer internship of 8-weeks along with the semester long SAP programme, thus getting an opportunity to spend almost 8 months in other reputed organisation/industries anywhere in the world
Another significant change is how the institute is offering the students the possibility to earn a ‘Minor’ or a ‘Micro-Specialisation’ in many of the disciplines of their interest. “Taking into account the rapid developments in AI and ML and its huge potential for the nation, studying at least one AI/ML elective will be made mandatory for all the students along with several other electives being offered in areas such as Linguistics, Happiness and Well-Being, Indian Knowledge Systems, Performing Arts etc. The institute also encourages the UG students to attend national and international conferences of repute and make presentations of the research work that they do at IIT Kharagpur by supporting them financially and promoting the creativity of the students through establishment of several Innovation Labs, Do-It-Yourself centres, Tinkering Labs, Tech Clubs etc,” read the press statement.
