Declining IIT cutoffs spark fears of falling standards

NEW DELHI: The IITs are struggling to get the best students, so much so that cutoff marks have been lowered in the past two years to fill seats in the country’s

NEW DELHI: The IITs are struggling to get the best students, so much so that cutoff marks have been lowered in the past two years to fill seats in the country’s premier engineering institutes.

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Marks as low as 75 out of 372 in the joint entrance examination (JEE-Advance) this year were good enough to land a general category student a seat in one of the 23 IITs. Reserved category students —Dalits, tribals, and people with disability — had to get only 38 to secure admission.

This comes at a time the IIT Council decided to increase the number of students from around 70,000 to 100,000 over the next three years, enrolling even day scholars for the first time.

The lowered benchmark has raised questions about academic quality.

IIT-Roorkee expelled 11 BTech students early this year for poor academic performance. Last year, the premier institute expelled 72 students for dismal academic record, but re-admitted them later.

Experts said tough question papers and negative marking in the entrance examination had 35% 24.5% 2014 2015 2016 31.39% 22.05% 2014 2015 2016 resulted in a shortfall of candidates meeting the benchmark, thus forcing the IIT management to lower the bar.

Doubts over a fall in standard have been dismissed.

“The teaching-learning process at IITs is intense, and many students who come with low ranks in JEE turn out to be gems when they pass the BTech programme,” said the director of an IIT who didn’t wish to be named.

A former director suggested 17.5% 2014 12.25% 2015 2016 improving the education standard at schools so that students could pass the entrance exam for IITs with higher grades. Of 147,678 students who appeared for this year’s JEE (Advanced), 36,566 qualified.

“Maintaining quality is a major issue which is why IITs coach such students so that they are on par with the rest. Students who were expelled by IIT-Roorkee in 2015 have done much better now with extra help, coaching from other students and faculty.”