19 2

Insight is the students’ newsletter of IIT Bombay. The views expressed here in without necessarily state or reflect those of IIT Bombay Student Gymkhana. Contact us at insight@iitb.ac.in for permissions to reproduce content.

AAKRITI VARSHNEY, ANAND DHOOT, APURV TIWARI, KARTHIK SANKARAN, MAURYA PATEL, RAHUL RAMCHANDANI Energy Consumption over the years

Year

Energy Total (units)

2013 2014 2015

35888127 36050115 36090068

An average household consumes anywhere between 500-700 units a month in Mumbai

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Area wise trends through the year 2015

Ah well, thank you for reminding me that I’m still ignoring fifth grade environmental education. First thoughts, right? Considering this and factoring your laziness, we thought that congratulating you on being the cheapest subscribers of electricity in Mumbai seemed apt. What if we ask you how much of a part you play in the wastage of this electricity? What do we generally tend to do if faced with this query? Blame that fourthie in the wing who has an assortment of electronics? Or it’s surely that wingie of yours who uses his laptop as a desktop 24x7, the guy to be blamed. Or perhaps the mess people, it must be them leaving the mess and lounge lights on all night. An incessant barrage of questions have been raised on the apparent wastage of electricity in the institute, especially in hostels. Concerns about the veracity of these claims led to the fruition of the following analysis.

In this article, we delve into the distribution of the consumption of electricity in the different parts of our institute. Which hostel consumes the most? Is there a department which dominates over the consumption from academic area? As we looked into this, most results are as one would expect but with some eye-opening numbers in support.

Out of a total of 29,226,976 units consumed by our institute in 2015 (excluding staff residences), around 69% was accounted for by the academic area itself, which isn’t really surprising with all the departments and secret(?) facilities working on large scale projects. The residential area, all our hostels, guesthouse, etc., accounted for around 29% and the rest of the institute takes care of the remaining 2%.

Gymkhana Consumption through the year 2015

2

Consumptions across hostels

If we look at the distribution across departments, the Electrical department consumes a whopping 23% of the total while other departments consume around 6-7% each. The high consumption may be justified given the department’s three buildings - two high demand national facilities in NCPRE and the Nanoelectronics building and that most of their research labs are open for almost 24x7 to cater to demands of a strength of around 1300 students.

Let us have a look at something we can better relate to. How do the hostels compare? If we look at the new hostels against the old hostels, the per capita consumption of H12-H14 and H15 does come out to be more as compared to H2-H11. This can be explained by the relatively new infrastructure and the fact that they completely rely on electric heaters instead of solar heaters as in the older hostels. But a major factor could also be that Hostels 12 to 14 have single rooms against the double rooms in other hostels. A caveat though is that without individual room consumption data, these explanations

don’t have numbers backing them up.

The other anomaly is H1. But the data is from the time when a large part of H1 was being reconstructed and the spike can thus be attributed to the reconstruction work. The solar and electric heaters have also recently been separated which has resulted in people relying solely on the electric ones.

Another interesting fact we observed was the variation in consumption over the year from the Gymkhana grounds. With Mood Indigo and Techfest scheduled near the year end, a huge spike (~32% of the total consumption) in December can be attributed to these fests which contribute 5 to 6 times the consumption in an average month.

Consumption: Insti vs Mumbai Outside main-gate, the per capita consumption across the city is close to 1200 units. While the cost per unit varies from supplier to supplier, taking Rs. 6 as the average cost per unit, the average Mumbaikar pays anywhere between Rs. 7000 to Rs. 9000 per year for electricity. Stu-

Department-wise consumption aggregated over 2015

dents, on the other hand, consume about 940 units a year in hostels alone, they are charged only Rs. 5000 for two semesters as electricity cost.

Solar Consumption Solar energy in the insitiute has not been put to much use. Apart from the solar water heaters on the hostels, the institute generates around 670 kW of solar power, with an aim of improving it to 1MW. However, this is very less compared to the amount of electricity consumed in the institute.

Conclusion A seemingly obvious fact was that the electricity consumption in hostels is a tiny portion of the total and if our goal is to reduce energy consumption per capita significantly then measures must be taken at the institutional level and not solely focused on hostels. One such measure was a circular sent out to all professors describing how to curb the excessive use of air-conditioners in labs and offices.

The hypothesis that hostel areas are major energy sinks therefore doesn’t hold up. While we should definitely promote energy conservation on an individual level and inculcate a culture of economical use, citing those as primary sources of waste is incorrect.

We would like to thank Prof. Rangan Banerjee from the Energy department for helping us out with the data. He is currently leading a team of students on an extensive analysis of the electricity consumption in our institute. A more detailed report shall be released soon.

3

A TALE OF

TWO

DEGREES ANMOL GUPTA, APURV TIWARI, YASH MEHTA

The Dual Degree programme in IITs was started first in 1996, with a belief that students would benefit greatly from it by saving one year in this fast-paced world and also benefit the institute with their research. According to Dean AP, it had been observed that IITians who went to pursue research in universities across the globe did really well and hence their staying back for another year would constructively benefit both the sides.

Recent years have seen a decline in the number of Dual degree seats across departments, with some scrapping the programme altogether. The popular opinion among students and faculty alike has been that given the lack of knowledge of any engineering stream as such at the time of admissions, committing oneself to a 5 year programme does not seem to be a very lucrative option.

Insight analysed the nitty-gritties of the Dual Degree program, the recent trends, and the future of the same. We also took a comprehensive online survey which was filled by 727 students, the results of which are reflected in various points below.

Department-level discrepancies Besides the project and the additional compulsory coursework that the DD students are expected to do, Chemical and Electrical DD students have a compulsory 6-credit course in their 8th semester called Supervised Learning Project (SLP) and Supervised Research Exposition (SRE) respectively, wherein students are expected to do a literature review before kicking off their project in May. Other departments do not have such a separate course as their Phase 1 work touches upon the literature study. A striking observation witnessed across most departments is that students usually end up only working on literature study in Phase 1 and their project work happens only in their final semester. On the flip side,

some credible work, with results, is also expected from Chemical and EE students in Phase 1 as they complete their literature study in their SLP/SRE highlighting a contrast in the amount of efforts put in by students of different departments.

A justification of this anomaly, as given by Prof. Avinash Mahajan, Associate Dean AP, is the dynamic nature of curriculum across departments. There are no fixed number of credits for any department, and departments too enjoy an autonomy of their own. He opines that a 6 to 10 odd credits variation across departments is completely fine.

former lot gets an undue advantage in their DDP, gaining a lot from their seniors’ expertise. DD students rampantly copy during submissions from previous work reports of M. Techs/Ph.Ds, adversely affecting the quality of work.

The Associate Dean AP, however, suggested that students pursuing research independently actually learn a lot more than otherwise, and that grades shouldn’t really matter much. Since each project is graded separately and on qualitative measures, all kinds of factors are duly considered.

Decreasing number of Dual Degree seats As can be seen from the statistics, most departments have cut down their DD intake through JEE. Prof. C.V. Tomy, HoD of the Engineering Physics Department, revealed that the DD Programme for Engineering Physics shall also be discontinued from the next academic year.

Electrical Engineering remains the only department to have maintained its number of DD seats - the highest among all departments. The quality of the DD programme in the department is also resounded by the fact that 35.7% of the department students who filled the survey found the present structure of the B.Tech Or Dual? programme and the number of seats in it At the time of After having spent satisfactory and voted against the idea of entrance some time in insti converting them to B.Tech.

28% 11% When Dean AP was asked to comment on the above trends, he admitted that most DD students are not too productive in their final year, especially when most of their batchmates have already begun their career outside IITB. The idea that students opting for a Dual Degree are actually interested in research with a year-long project is not realistic; so most departments have cut down their DD intake.

Intake for Dual Degree through JEE Allocation of Projects and Profs The procedure of allocation of Dual Degree Projects to students and consequently that of professors to students varies considerably across departments. While some departments follow the transparent method of registering through an online portal and/or form CPI as the basis, others simply follow a first-come first-serve policy.

The issue of students being allocated projects under their supervisor’s M.Tech. and Ph.D students as compared to some who have to start one from scratch was also raised by many. It’s evident that the

Chemical Engg.

Electrical Engg.

Energy Engg.

Mechanical Engg.

MEMS

Engg.

Physics

2011

51

64

30

45

57

12

2012

36

64

30

45

57

12

2013

0

64

30

22

26

12

2014

0

64

30

22

26

12

2015

0

64

30

22

26

12

4 General Perception about Dual Degree For many students, the Dual Degree programme is not just about the extra degree and the extra year in the institute. There are a lot of other intrinsic implications that come attached with the dual degree programme. The compulsory extra course that DD students have to do each semester does take a toll on students since it implies extra study hours and lesser time for extracurriculars. While B.Tech. students also take up extra courses, they have the option to drop them, since they don’t form a part of their core curriculum. Additionally, DDs can take up extra courses like minor and ALC’s only if their CPI is above 8 whereas their B.Tech. counterparts do not have such constraints thus translating into greater academic flexibility.

However, things do change after 3rd year as DD students get to build a more diverse profile given an additional year and lack of placement commitments in their fourth year. Lack of compulsory courses in their final year also acts like a boon giving students more time to explore other opportunities.

On similar lines of the DD v/s B.Tech. debate, while comparing IIT-B’s M.Tech.

DDs can take up extra courses like minor and ALC’s only if their CPI is above 8 whereas their B.Tech. counterparts do not have such constraints with an MS in a university abroad, almost all the answers were in favor of pursuing an MS abroad with 39.1% respondents giving the lowest rating to an M.Tech. here. The average rating was 2 out of 5 (where 5 indicates equivalent standards).

However, it’s interesting to note that the number of MS applicants to foreign universities from IITB has been on the decline in the recent years - a fact that was stated by all the HODs. From students’ experience and observations in insti, the percentage of respondents preferring admission in the DD programme also went up to 28% from a measly 11% on the basis

of their perspectives during admissions.

The 9 HoDs interviewed offered surprisingly similar insights with regards to the importance of the DD programme for the institute. If a person is pursuing a DD, he is supposed to be inclined towards research in that subject - but the HODs unanimously agreed that an increasing number of students don’t fall under this generalisation since they are either not dispositionally interested in research or want to do research in another specialisation, which often leads to their demanding an early exit from the program.

Quality of DDPs While there isn’t any objective measure of evaluating the overall quality of a DDP, a small number of respondents (mainly the Dual Degree students) do feel that since they were admitted in the programme by rank and not by choice, the interest in the Dual Degree Project isn’t that high.

Contrarily, Prof. Suhas Joshi - HOD, Mechanical Department, feels that the research output of Dual Degree students is a lot better than those of M.Tech. students. The reason for the same, as he states is, that Dual Degree students receive a very high level of education and training in the four years that they study here before committing to the project, while PGs receive the same level of input only for one year.

All other HODs, however, were of the Quality of DDPs DDPs are actually is not decent done with enthusiasm

52%

11%

opinion that sincere and dedicated students in both the programmes were on the same page. There are lazy, disoriented and uninterested students in both the programmes, just as there are diligent, focussed and motivated students in both the programmes - their performances be-

ing in accordance with their dispositions.

Converting from B.Tech. to Dual Regarding awareness of the procedure required for converting from B.Tech. to Dual Degree, only 31.6% of the respondents answered positively.

Though the process and criteria for converting from B.Tech. to Dual varies from department to department, the institute has clearly laid the general guidelines and conditions to be met for the conversion.

According to the Academic rulebook, students may be permitted to change from B.Tech. to Dual Degree Programme in the same department at the end of their third or fourth semesters (which

It’s interesting to note that the number of MS applicants to foreign universities from IITB has been on the decline in the recent years varies for some departments) subject to the department’s recommendations.

The decision to convert or not to convert from B.Tech to Dual Degree during one’s academic stay in the institute is akin to the dilemma that one faces during the time of choice-filling for IITs - albeit with a little more knowledge and experience than the latter, and one has to take into account a lot of factors for the same.

Insight asked students if they had made their mind on this crucial decision; and of a total 406 responses filled, 37.7% had made their mind of not converting, but not far behind, 27.1% weren’t sure about it while a small 3.7% (20) had already converted/were in the process of conversion. Surprisingly enough, 45.8% of who chose not to convert had decided so since they wanted to pursue MS/Ph.D abroad.

Placements and Internships There is a general consensus in the campus that B.Tech. students get a better shot at internships while their Dual Degree counterparts take the cream during placements. These opinions are backed by 64.8% respondents who agreed with the bias in internships whereas only 19.3% felt the opposite was true. For

5 Students who have converted from B.Tech. programme to Dual Degree programme (batch-wise). One can see a sharp decline in the conversions across almost all departments

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Aerospace Engg.

18

16

16

01

-

Chemical Engg.

-

02

03

-

-

05

08

06

03

-

-

02

02

-

-

Electrical Engg.

01

11

05

10

07

Mechanical Engg.

08

10

16

07

04

MEMS

14

04

04

03

-

Engg. Physics

-

-

02

-

-

Civil Engg.

CSE

(Data shows the batchwise number of students who converted from B.Tech. to DD upto December 2015)

placements, 48.1% of the respondents felt that Dual Degree students do have better opportunities in this regard.

Students generally associate these trends with non-core companies avoiding Dual Degree students in their 3rd year because they prefer giving PPOs after internships, which is less likely with the students who aren’t in their penultimate year yet.

On the other hand, having a B.Tech. + M.Tech. degree quite clearly gives one an edge over someone who just has a B.Tech. degree - especially when it comes to core placements. The extra experience and knowledge that one gains through the additional courses and the exhaustive research involved in the Dual Degree Project is definitely a value-addition to their profile/resume.

Another major issue is that while some IITs like Delhi, Kharagpur and Madras allow the DDs to intern in the summer after their 4th year as well, IITB does not.

The comments section of the survey was flocked with responses showcasing this ambiguity. The Associate Dean AP responded by saying that on one hand the students want to complete their project in the shortest possible time and on the other hand they also want to intern - clearly a conflict of interests.

He also revealed that just like in Ivy League colleges, where you are allowed to drop a year in order to explore other avenues or just to take some time off, you can drop a year here in IITB as well owing

to personal or medical reasons.

Miscellaneous inclusions such as B.Tech. + MBA or Interdisciplinary Dual degrees A number of other IITs - namely IITKGP, IITR, and IITD have launched a 5-year B.Tech. + MBA programme in recent years, transcending the engineering field.

A B.Tech. + MBA is certainly a degree that many students are likely to opt for, given the number of students that go to IIMs and other non-core job opportunities. The School of Management in IIT Bombay is also highly acclaimed and

Another major issue is that while some IITs like Delhi, Kharagpur and Madras allow the DDs to intern in the summer after their 4th year as well, IITB does not ranks among the top 20 management institutes of the country. These reasons combine to provide strong enough incentives for the introduction of such a degree in IIT Bombay.

Exploring the option of B.Tech. + MBA in 5 years was taken very positively by the respondents and a total of 65.5% felt it should be instated in the institute.

The Dean AP stated that such a proposal hasn’t been discussed so far in the higher authorities, but it sure can be considered at some point in future. However, he pointed out, “the fee structure in B.Tech

Fairness of intake into Dual Degree Program through JEE

2.6

on a scale of 1 to 5

Illustrations || Parimal Chahande

and MBA is quite different. MBA is a vocational higher degree for which students pay significant fees. There is no significant research component in an MBA degree as well.”

Interdisciplinary dual degrees are highly sought after in many foreign universities, wherein you pursue your Bachelors in one field and Masters in another (which are often closely related). Recently, the senate passed a landmark decision in this direction, allowing a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering with an M.Tech in CSE. The Associate Dean AP also revealed that a proposal for B.Tech. in ME and M.Tech. in Energy has been proposed in the DGPC. Final Take on the Programme Prof Narayan Rangaraj, Dean A.P, is of the opinion that the programme should not be scrapped off completely as saving a year in Masters is still a strong enough incentive for students. The intake through JEE, however, may not be a good decision for both - students and insti alike and an alternate system in which everyone enters in the B.Tech. programme, and then later switches to Dual Degree by choice, would definitely reap out better results.

Prof Avinash Mahajan, Associate Dean AP, even said that the JEE intake in DD programmes of other departments will also follow the same fate and may be scrapped off in the near future.

6

Appointment of Professors APARAJEYA DASH, HIMANI MEHTA, KARAN TRICHAL, KARTHIK SANKARAN, KEWAL BHAT, VAIBHAV BHOSALE

Having taken care of the almighty biometric attendance, you lounge yourself sleepily onto some seat in a remote corner of the class looking at the reason for all the mad rush. More often than not, these thoughts cross your mind: Why am I taught by these guys? Who selects them? More importantly, what parameters are taken into account to assess those who assess me over my entire stay in campus?

If you have ever faced any of these questions when you should be concentrating in class, look no further. We bring to you a comprehensive and detailed analysis of how the entire appointment process works, right from applications to the perks of being a professor in insti.

Qualification: A Ph.D. with First class or equivalent (in terms of Grades etc.) as the preceding degree and a good academic record throughout.

Work Experience: Professor : A minimum of ten years teaching/research/professional experience of which at least 4 years should be at the level of Associate Professor in a research organization or industry as on the date of application. The candidate should also have demonstrated leadership in research in a specific area of specialization in terms of guidance of Ph.D. students, strong record of publications in reputed journals and conferences, patents and other recognized relevant professional activities.

Associate Professor: A minimum of six years teaching/ research/professional experience of which 3 years should be at the level of Assistant Professor, Senior Scientific Officer or Senior Design Engineer in a research organization or industry as on the date of application. The candidate should have demonstrated adequate experience of independent research in terms of guidance of M.Tech. and Ph.D. students, publications in reputed journals and conferences, patents and other recognized relevant professional activities.

Assistant Professor: A minimum of three years teaching/ research/professional experience, excluding the experience gained while pursuing Ph.D candidate should have demon-

Selection process

1

The process has two primary levels of contact first, when the candidate gives a seminar and second, when he meets the individual faculty members of the respective department. This is done to ensure the applicant has a reasonable idea and understanding of the department and to get a good and clear idea about the person who is joining the department. In certain situations if due to circumstantial reasons, the applicant cannot be physically present then a skype interview is arranged and inputs about the candidate are taken from his/her peers and colleagues.

2

The candidate needs to present or submit three

papers written by him/her in their field of interest and these need to be vetted by experts, either inside or outside the institute. Excellence in one’s academic record is one of the most important underlying feature while deciding whether or not to appoint a candidate. This is looked into thoroughly at every stage. Diverse areas of study from some of their critically acclaimed work are also looked into along with the research proposal and courses he/she can teach in the department.

3

For every department, there is a faculty search

committee which makes a recommendation to a process committee that vets the candidate’s profile followed by vetting by the department based on the shortlist provided. Only after it gets approval from the department does it go to the main building for further scrutiny. The Head of the Department coordinates with the search committee and is kept in the loop. Thus it is not a decision of a single person to shortlist or forward candidate CVs.

4

Once the main building finalises the shortlist, each

candidate on the list is contacted and asked for references for his/her work. The department has to assign 4 additional references/experts to the candidate who can vet their CV. Subject experts are also consulted and approximately 5 to 6 of them are on the interview committee. strated research capabilities in terms of publications in reputed journals and conferences.

Apart from all that may seem objectively quantifiable, the selection of a professor is a subjective issue and someone getting selected (or rejected) may or may not be predicted by scribbling ticks and crosses on a piece of paper. Moreover, it highly depends upon his/her compatibility with other department faculty as well. When a person comes here, he/she lives here for 35 years! And for that, a fair amount of commitment is required.

7

Department-wise professor intake

Assistant Professor

Associate Professor

Becoming a Professor at IIT Bombay has its own share of pitfalls. Long hours of seemingly never-ending work along with non-hierarchical and non-decisive committees whose decisions are supposed to be binding upon you. Seems the standard distasteful ration served at every engineering college, eh?

Now let’s delve a bit into the flip side of the coin; The Perks of being a Professor at IIT Bombay.

Research facilities and grants: The

institute flexes its considerable financial muscle your way to make sure you hit the ground running when you join as an Assistant Professor. 20 Lakh as Research grants, coupled with support for your Ph.D student, when you’ve barely been on campus.

Professor

Total

Space: As summarised quite crisply

by Professor Venkataramani, HoD of MEMS department, ‘Space is premium!’

And this ‘premium’ commodity is doled out by.. well, quite a large amount to the incoming faculty members. 300 sq. ft of personal space along with a personal cabin is to be kept ready before one has even stepped foot into the campus as an assistant Professor or Professor. And this is just how Professors start out. Once they start getting money into the department, the Department accommodates them with a larger amount of space.

Telephone bill allowance: Dearness al-

lowance, Housing allowance, Transport allowance - and to top all of it off, a Telephone Bill allowance as well. Who needs a million-dollar salary when you are up to your neck in allowances?!

Cumulative Professional Development Allowance: Professional Devel-

opment is a factor of paramount importance for most new faculties, and it is here that IITB trumps most other professional colleges.

With a grant of 3 Lakh over a block of 3 years provided to faculty members for presenting their work at conferences, paying the membership fees of various organizations and buying books and any other things that complement their research - you simply aren’t kept wanting as far as your professional development is concerned. And that is probably the best thing an institution can provide you.

Illustrations || Tathagatha Biswas A plethora of leaves: Well, apparent-

ly, you are entitled to a million and one different kinds of leaves - both paid and unpaid and for reasons genuine and myriad - as soon as you join the Insti. There are leaves such as ‘Casual Leave’, and then there are other eccentric leaves such as ‘Extraordinary leave’. Whatever be the reason, the leaves at IITB have you covered. We just wish this perk was more exploited by our profs.

Even though all of this may seem too good to be true for an institute comprising 10,000 students and 600 faculty members, but the fact of matter is that roughly just one in a sixty applicants makes it through all the above mentioned screenings and clears a comprehensive selection process to become an integral part of IITB.

8

Too closed for comfort: The Student Representative system AKASH CHIKHALIKAR, CHINMAY SANKHE, PANKAJ KABIRA, SAPAN SHAH, SHOBHNA MISHRA, SRAVAN PATCHALA

The position of a General Secretary in the institute is considered to be that of power and prestige. At the level of policy-making in the institute, most decisions are taken with due recommendations from the respective GSec who acts as a messiah between the administration and students.

The process of electing a GSec is a democratic one with the student electorate calling the shots. However at the election stage, Why do you vote for a particular candidate to be your GSec?

the situation may become turbulent and thereafter snowball into any or all of the following: an indifferent electorate, a gap between students and authorities or even an unsatisfactory tenure.

A survey was conducted in the institute to gauge the effectiveness of this system as perceived by the students.

Do you think the G.Sec. has an impact on institute life?

The GSecs Speak It’s not that General Secretaries fail in getting their work done.

They too face difficulties in implementing their manifesto points. It’s always important to know the other side of the story.

We asked Pankaj Kabira, General Secretary Academic Affairs, PG and Sahil Dhingra, General Secretary Sports Affairs about their views and the difficulties that a G.Sec faces in fulfilling their promises.

Pankaj Kabira

“I think in order to win elections, G.Sec candidates usually make unrealistic promises which at times are very difficult to be accomplished. Such promises usually create a USP during the elections. But after winning the elections, even if the G.Sec tries his level best, (s)he is not able to complete some of these promises. These incomplete promises are again seen in the manifesto points of the next G.Sec candidate.

In many student councils, institute secretaries are elected where they have their own initiatives which may or may not overlap with those of the G.Sec. Further, in case of insufficient work done by the secretaries, it becomes difficult for the G.Sec. to impeach him/her. Thus, it’s the institute’s people who are at loss.’

Institute policies are really very demotivating for the GSes. Usually when we float a form on student notices, we give students a 3-5 days deadline. When we want to implement something, institute gives us a 3-5 weeks deadline and work is eventually completed after 3-5 months. At times, our agenda points

are simply countered by functionaries on basis of their power.

Agenda points must be weighed on logical arguments, rather than simple veto power of institute functionaries.

Students representatives’ views must be weighed logically during meeting of institute functionaries and student representatives. Institute functionaries should also be answerable to students over any particular decision. Some decision should not be taken just because institute functionaries want to take it.”

Sahil Dhingra

“Infrastructure is the biggest problem we face. Even if we plan to renovate something in SAC premises, estate office takes lot of time to complete it. We have to ask them repeatedly to do the work. Such tasks, on an average, usually take around three to four months to complete. This affects the overall planning of events as we then have to schedule it as per the working of the estate office.

The second major hurdle is getting approval for events. Currently, for sports, the approval process is offline with the process form being signed by the Sports Officer, SAC in-charge, Sports Chairman and then finally by Dean SA. If even one of them on the approval-chain is on leave, the form gets waitlisted causing frequent delays. I would suggest approval process should be made online as online is always a better option. Not to forget, budget constraints are always there.”

9 Do you go back at the end of the tenure to check if the candidate has fulfilled his manifesto or attend a GBM for the same purpose?

How much of a role do you think Have you ever attended/been GBMs play in giving feedback part of a GBM? to the representatives?

Do you know the proportion of the senate consisting of student representatives?

How approachable do you think GSecs are towards any grievances pertaining to their area of responsibility?

22.5%

In my experience, the GSecs have always been quite approachable and have tried their best to solve any such problem.

38%

I think they are approachable to some extent but feedback systems need to be truly implemented to improve this.

20.4%

I think it depends on the number of intersecting spheres between the life of GSec and myself.

19.1%

I think there is huge gap between GSecs and students which needs to filled for the GSecs to be approachable.

An alternative system - IIT Madras Unlike the council structure at IIT Bombay, the system adopted by IIT Madras resembles the Indian parliamentary system.

The institute level student government consists of two major branches, the executive and the legislature. The executive branch comprises of nine major council members, the coordinating member being the General Secretary, who coordinates the institute’s overall affairs. The eight other members are designated various portfolios like academic affairs, international and alumni affairs, etc.

The legislative branch, on the other hand, is completely separate from the executive and is called the Student Legislative Council (SLC). The members of the SLC are elected by constituents, which are the different hostels and departments. Every hostel has one legislator, while every department has two legislators, one undergraduate and one postgraduate with additional M.Tech. legislators wherever they are under-represented. This brings the number of legislators to about 46. The constituencies elect their representatives, and every individual has dual representation, vis a vis their hostel legislator as well as their department legislator.

The legislative house - the student parliament - meets once every two or three weeks (as decided by the head of chairman of the house, the Speaker). The agendas include the passing of bills as proposed by the executive branch, or effecting policy changes. The decisions are taken by putting them to a vote. There is no faculty or administrative representation in the house.

The representatives of the executive branch also attend the proceedings, without the power to vote on decision-making. However, they get a veto to overturn the parliament’s decision if there is a three-fourth majority among them. The parliament, in turn, can overturn the veto if they can come to a two-third majority.

The decisions taken by the student parliament are then sent for

the Senate’s deliberation, which are then implemented on approval. According to Aroon Narayanan, former speaker of the IITM student parliament, the Senate seldom rejects or interferes in the student parliament’s proposals. Some of the recent parliamentary proposals approved by the senate are reversing the LAN ban, and allowing the students to redo courses they want to improve their grades for.

On the hostel level, however, there is no legislative branch of government. There is one General Secretary for the hostel, augmented by six secretaries, each handling a different area of concern for the hostel. These posts are all elected by the students of the respective hostels.

On the department level, the Branch Councillor heads the team of representatives. The team consists of members of the batchwise class committees - elected by every batch - along with a few unelected members directly appointed by the branch councillor. The branch councillor has the responsibility of writing a charter for his team’s tenure, which needs to be approved in a General Body Meeting.

In Aroon’s opinion, the executive branch functions extremely well.

It is, however, the legislative branch that escapes the student community’s sympathy. The function of the legislative branch involves more long-term aspects than their executive counterpart.

There are aspects of IIT-M’s system that offer significant advantages over the present system at IIT-B, and allow the students to be ‘represented’ in the right sense of the word at a level where major policy decisions are made. There are also inter-disciplinary synergies that come into play, by virtue of the system requiring an overall cooperation of student representatives rather than them being limited to their areas of interest.

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(S)elective System AAKRITI VARSHNEY, HARSHIT SAHAY, KEWAL BHAT, KUSH MOTWANI, MIHIR BHOSALE, NASIRUDDIN AHMAD, R BASUHI

It is fairly common knowledge that branches at IIT Bombay are more a function of JEE ranks than genuine student interest.

Keeping this key factor in mind, and recognizing the need for an undergraduate education to impart one with a broad academic experience, a robust electives system is quite essential.

These were the basic principles that the Biswas committee had in mind when redesigning the curriculum in 2007. Back then, the BTech curriculum for most departments in the institute was fairly rigid and strait-jacketed. Most of the features of the system we have in place today, from compulsory institute electives, department electives and the dedicated minor slot (Slot 5) were introduced by this committee. New courses were introduced, and it was made easier for students to take up extra courses in departments they weren’t enrolled in.

elective systems was left unchanged, and a couple of courses were added to the curriculum. Biology was one of these. Making Data Interpretation a Department Core Course was another. Some reshuffling of the courses, such as moving Economics to the second year, was also done.

It has been over 9 years since the changes were introduced, and further changes have been largely superficial. The curriculum is something that will and should naturally be dynamic - changing and adapting to the current requirements. Also important to gauge is the student sentiment

The next change came in 2013, when a fresh committee was instituted under Prof. Karandikar, tasked with suggesting further improvements to the system. Unlike the previous instance, the changes instituted were mostly cosmetic. The core nature of the

While the changes instituted by the Biswas committee were welcomed as important steps towards creating a more broad and flexible education curriculum, there are more nuances to be looked at. As mentioned above, it has been over 9 years since the changes were introduced, and further changes have been largely superficial.

The curriculum is something that will and should naturally be dynamic - changing and adapting to the current requirements. Also important to gauge is the student sentiment.

Is the increased flexibility something that students actually use to broaden their horizons? Or are elective choices simply governed by grading statistics? We conducted a survey to get answers to some of these questions.

Stat-is-ticked: What do students think about the electives system?

General motivation behind choosing elective courses

85% UGs

89% PGs

think the idea of Institute electives has been helpful to them and has given them the opportunity to explore other departments of their interest

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35% UGs

40% PGs

would like to have an increase in the number of compulsory institute electives required to get a degree would like to have a decrease in the number of compulsory department electives required to get a degree

A sneak peek into department electives Since the elective system is different from each department with respect to number of courses offered and their breadth, we also invited department specific feedback and suggestions. Here is a summary of this analysis :

that students should have the freedom to do a wide variety of courses as electives, students are free to take three of six department from any department they wish (including CS), while the other three may be chosen as any course offered by the department, or a course from a predefined whitelist.

Students speak: There should be more electives, lesser core curriculum while institute electives should be replaceable by dept electives. Taking electives in the second sem (institute electives) and in the second year could be a good idea, when you do not really know much about your department.

Electrical: Elec B. Tech students need to complete two

Civil: This department is comparatively flexible with six department electives which they have to choose from a common list of courses specified by the department.

Students speak: From this year onwards, civil department has increased credits by making some electives compulsory. These courses should be improved or removed from the core curriculum.

Institute Electives, two Department Electives, and two Open Electives. However, there is even more flexibility.

Students have the choice of doing BTP-II (12 credits) or two Department Electives (12 credits) in place of BTP-II. These Department Electives must be in addition to those listed above. And among the two dual degree specializations, CSP students don’t have any compulsory course that they’re supposed to do as a part of their dual degree, whereas microelectronics people are prescribed to do four such courses.

Students speak: The electives should be better grouped into specific sub-disciplines. There must be better guidance towards choosing electives from FacAds. Electives for DD should only be started after they have figured out a core area to work on, ie after their third year when most of their UG coursework is completed. One more possibility can be to altogether get rid of the core courses system.

Chemical: Students are supposed to complete three de-

Energy: Even after being a relatively new department, the

Aerospace: Two institute electives and four department

electives. Flexible scheme - department electives can be chosen from a predefined bucket of department and relevant non-department courses.

Students speak: The core curriculum should be reduced while introducing a choice for more electives.

Instead of having ‘Dept’ and ‘Institute’ electives, just have ‘Electives’ which can be taken from any dept.

partment and two institute electives as a prerequisite to get their respective degrees, thus placing it almost in the middle in a chart containing departments with flexible academic curriculums.

Students speak: Students should be encouraged to take up institute electives in the second year (most of us aren’t aware of the electives till the third year), so that they can further do a research/study the course in detail if interested.

Chemistry: The new B.Sc curriculum includes three

compulsory department electives and two institute electives and another HSS elective. For a dual M.Sc + B.Sc degree, four more department electives are to be covered in the fifth year.

Students speak: Too rigid a system. We should be allowed to take up relevant courses from other departments as department electives since the list offered to us is not enough.

Computer Science: Students need to do six department

electives and two institute electives. Since professors feel

electives system for ESE is among the most flexible ones in the whole UG curriculum, with nine department, two institute and two open electives respectively.

Students speak: Need more variety in the dept electives.

Not enough choice in the present list of courses.

Engineering Physics: Students are allowed only one in-

stitute elective. The other one is replaced by an engineering elective which comprises of courses only from core engineering departments. Apart from these, there are four department electives and one Open elective. But, the number of courses available for electives for the dual degree students is so scarce that the name ‘elective’ remains quite titular only.

Students speak: The number of compulsory department electives for DDs should be decreased. More flexibility needed.

Mechanical: For the B.Tech degree, six department elec-

tives are prescribed from among a list of courses spanning mainly Mech, SysCon, IEOR and Energy departments.

Apart from this, there are two institute electives that you

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can take from any department. Among the specialisations, CADA is the most flexible with a long list of courses to choose fifteen department electives from. CIM and TFE on the other hand are pretty rigid, CIM having thirteen department electives and TFE having ten with one institute elective.

Students speak: Most of the courses provided by the curriculum have stopped running and are not offered anymore. It would be helpful if these courses, such as the ones on Robotics, etc are encouraged more since the courses in mechanical right now, are pretty conventional and outdated. It would help if more courses on controls, robotics, mechatronics, etc are offered. More courses from the Systems and Controls department should also be allowed to be taken up as department electives.

MEMS: Among the most rigid electives systems in the in-

stitute when compared to other departments. Meta only offers their BTech students a single department elective, along with two institute electives. But the situation is even worse for dual degree students as they aren’t prescribed to complete even a single department elective as a part of their UG curriculum.

Students speak: MEMS requires a complete overhaul.

The amount of electives offered is way too low, leading to an incredibly rigid curriculum.

MTechs/ MScs/PhDs

For postgraduate students, approximately 40-50% of credits consist of compulsory core courses and 40-60% are electives with about one-fourth of them comprising of institute electives. Now also within core, a few specialisations have choices and it varies across departments. But, conclusively it can be said that the academic curriculum for UGs may follow suit from the their PG counterparts as far as flexibility of the system is concerned.

Comparison with electives systems in other IITs To gauge whether there were interesting alternatives available to the system in place at IIT Bombay, we looked at the other IITs and their curriculum design.

While the basic structure in most of the top IITs is similar, some interesting differences do exist. The number of compulsory Humanities Courses required is generally higher than the usual 3 in IIT-B. Another variation is within the Minor system. While the system in IIT-B seems more robust and popular (in terms of no. of students availing it), several departments in other IITs have begun offering specialized minors. So for example, a student can pursue highly specific courses in a subfield within a department, and complete a minor in say Machine Learning, or Data Analysis, instead of Computer Science. This enables the student to build a more definite skillset, and could be a good option for those looking to build a particular profile.

One of the more radical concepts was that of the Dual Major.

Unlike other IITs, IIT Kanpur allows students to convert to a

Dual Major program at the end of their fourth semester. Under this, the student completes the compulsory requirements of two departments, and can then graduate with a B.Tech in both of them. While this is understandably hard due to the increased course load, certain changes like relaxing the credit requirement and allowing students to use elective courses for the other department courses help to make it more feasible. IIT Kharagpur is also trying to make interdisciplinary learning easier, and students can now pursue an MTech. in fields like Financial En-

While the system in IIT-B seems more robust and popular (in terms of no. of students availing it), several departments in other IITs have begun offering specialized minors gineering, Energy Engineering, Entrepreneurship.

Some IITs have also taken steps to ensure that students develop a more holistic approach towards learning. In order to improve learning beyond the classroom, IIT Delhi has now made it compulsory for students to complete an additional 15 non graded units for a BTech. These units can be completed by doing courses and seminars on topics such as Ethics, Communication and Language. A further 5 units need to be completed by doing design and practical exercises that include taking up research projects under professors, specialized courses dealing with practical engineering and design, and/or courses with an additional design component. The idea behind this component is to allow students to better develop practical skills.

Conclusion While it’s easy to adopt a sceptical approach towards the electives system, it is pretty clear that the changes made in 2007 have had a largely positive impact. The general perception that students choose electives purely on grading statistics is something that may not be completely true, as the survey shows.

Moreover, the institute seems to be working towards this - with the introduction of the W grade on transcripts last year (check).

By their very nature though, the curriculum is something that demands constant reform, and 9 years on from the last major overhaul, it might be time to consider alternate systems such as those elucidated above.

Even though your plate may already be full with department and institute core courses, but one must keep in mind that elective courses form an integral part of the curriculum. Choosing some courses of interest to you may provide the needed panacea to complete those less interesting, but “required” courses. These electives help colleges and employers to learn more about your interests, abilities, and so forth. You can also use elective courses to give yourself samplings of various careers to consider as well.

The Team

Editors’ Note We are glad to present the second edition of our flagship newsletter for this semester. This time around, we have tried to answer some curious questions like “How are our professors chosen?” to highlighting pertinent issues that could really hit the institute hard, like our growing consumption of electricity or the Dual-degree dilemma, whether the program is even relevant today or not. We would be glad to receive your feedback on any of the articles we’ve worked on at insight@iitb.ac.in. You can also hit us on our Facebook page and we shall get back immediately.

This semester, we also launched a platform for discussions on topics relevant to the student community of IIT Bombay and beyond. You can use this group to have a discussion on various happenings in the institute and much more. Search for ‘Insight Discussion Forum’ on Facebook or message us and we shall add you on it.

Cheers!

Shreerang and Shreeyesh

Chief Editors Shreerang Javadekar Shreeyesh Menon Editorial Board Aakriti Varshney Abhishek Andasu Akash Chikhalikar Avinaash Anand Chinmay Sankhe Chintan Savla Febin Mathew Harshit Sahay Himani Mehta Jay Mardia

Karthik Sankaran Kewal Bhat Pranjali Gupta Pratyarth Rao Rahul Ramchandani Rishabh Israni Sapan Shah Tejas Srinivasan Yash Mehta

Team Anand Dhoot Anmol Gupta Aparajeya Dash Apurv Tiwari Karan Trichal Kush Motwani Maurya Patel

Mihir Bhosale Nasiruddin Ahmad Pankaj Kabira R Basuhi Shobhna Mishra Sravan Patchala Vaibhav Bhosale

Layout & Design Chaitanya Mandugula

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