Are the IIT’s & IIM’s Over-rated, Over-hyped, Over-exposed & Under performing?
This is no diatribe against India’s loved and respected Institutions. But it is a rant against the cult of mediocrity that we have come to accept.
Come placement time and our institutions lose no breath in pointing out the success of IITians overseas especially the software breed in the Silicon Valley. The media too readily laps up the story and reams are eloquently written on the success that our talent in its concentrated form of IITians reaps - in dollars nonetheless.
If one out of every six people in the world is an Indian and the best ones go to IIT and if the best among them go to the US, isn’t it quite obvious that they should do well regardless of the excellence of the institution?
Where does IIT stand in terms of innovation and contributing to the Indian economy? What have their expensive, taxpayer-subsidized elite engineering education contributed to India? Why does our best engineering talent remain hung in the middle management of IT companies?
According to Dunu Ray, ‘IITians Are Big Fools'. A former IITian himself, Dunu Roy is post-graduate in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay & has devoted over three decades in the field of rural development. At the recently held Techfest at IITB, Dunu raised the dander up with his unique ability to debunk conventional wisdom and said “ IITians are victims of the politics of education and science”.
The only industry that seems to have flourished, thanks to the IIT’s & IIM’s, has been the coaching institutions. Their claims to crack these entrance examinations have spell bound their target segment to such an extent that even normal school is considered a distraction. Right, we sure are heading somewhere.
If we are going to let cramming power rule over and creativity, imagination, we might as well bid adieu to ever being even close to a super power.
Is the education these institutions imparting actually help groom entrepreneurs? If so, why are we still at the bottom of the innovation totem pole?
6 comments:
Well, Shweta I'm presently reading the book 'The World Is Flat' by Thomas Friedman and what the authoe says that today India's Sucess is allbecause the IIta and the IIMS.
Earlier in the 90s, IItians used to go to the US, for the S?W jobs that they used to get there. That was because of the IT bubble that was growing. Soon post 2000 (Y2K), the bubble burst ant m,any s/w employees were laid off. This was the foundation for the outsourcing business. Companies had a loos because of the bubble burst, but they still wanted to get the work donne by the same Indian, whom they laid off - But at a lesser price. At this stage companies thought to, call back these people from India and ask them to work from India, using Internet Connectivity. That is how India grew in the IT industry.
Please read the book, and u'll find that an AMERICAN is appreciating the IITs and IIMs. Do read it and I bet your thoughts shall change. It apparently is a best seller, and the author wrote it after visiting B'lore and the software companies located there.
Hi Maltesh,
I think I have hit the bulls arse with my post, if you got the idea that I was ranting against the brain drain of IIT's & IIM's to US.
The success that you claim of our IT industry is being limited to work that is being 'outsourced' to India and 'R&D' once again outsourced to India. I think we surely can do better than that.
Why should the so-called crème de la crème of Indian talent be content on working for a US company at a lesser price?
When we brag about our IIT's & IIM's being worldclass tell me how many of them are actually making it to the sr. management of large IT companies?
Surely foriegn companies dont require our taxpayer-subsidized top-of-the class IIT engineering minds for mediocre jobs.
Yes, I think we are guilty of low expectations.
Agreed, to some extent that there is a slight brain drain.
Read the recent India Tdoday copy, dated Feb 19 2007, a special issue, on Indian Youth.
hey have had a poll, and it reports 75% of youth choose to work in India, thats a good figure. But the sad story is that its down from a 80% from last year.
IItians and IIM grads do make it big in these S/W companies.
But I still believe, that as we see Indian companies like TCS and Infy take the world over there are better prospects coming to India.
Now, I'm a Mechanical Engineer, and really cant get more into this s/w business.
Peace... :)
The IITs and IIMs are world class institutions(?).Few months back I read in a magazine that actually they are not.The contribution of IITs and IIMs in international R&D or research paper submission is far low as compared to many other Instituions world wide.
But what makes them important and most sought after is the increasing number of students and competition among them to study in best Institute in 'India'.
When lakhs of students will appear for few seats in this institute then obviously their status will be over hyped.
If the education in foreign countries is made affordable and easy then the over hyped status of these institutes will automatically crumble.....again,this will be a brain drain actually.
I agree to a certain extent Abhishek. But also lets question why only IIT's & IIM's got this exalted status? Why not say a PES Engineering College in Bangalore?
We can't completely deny that the bar has een set quite high in these institutions and the grind starts right from the entrance exams.
IIT and IIM has not done anything great..the INDIAN in these names should be changed to INTERNATIONAL..IIIT-B and IIIT-H has done it..so there is no fallcy for their case..and they are serving internation scene by producing man power for IT industry..it is written in their brouchre also..so why not they become INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT.
The fact is that IIT has created nothing sort of industrial revolution in india yet. Even scandinavian nation's institute are far better than IIT.
The only thing which we look about IIT is B.TECH. No Body focuses on how they do in research,phds. These all is the work of media.
And who said that they pick talented students. I guess people who make in these institutions are better informed because they all have studied in big schools of urban areas.
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