India's Elite Engineering Schools Lose Luster After Expansion

New Delhi — The luster of India’s academic crown jewels, the Indian Institutes of Technology, may be fading, The Telegraph reported today.

For the first time in their 58-year history, the 15 institutes may have to hold a second round of admissions to fill vacant seats, as many of the successful applicants have rejected the institutes’ offers in favor of alternatives, the newspaper said. Worse still, the institutes are likely to have to lower their standards for the second round.

Officials believe the seats are remaining unfilled because students are opting for the chance to study their first choice of subjects over the institutes’ “brand name.” Most educational institutions across India admit students in phases. Top students are invited first and can choose their course of study. If vacancies remain, students on a second-tier list may select their course, then a third, and so on. But in the past the institutes never needed to worry about vacancies.

Students’ new willingness to turn down opportunities to study at one of the premier institutes may confirm educators’ fears about what they call an ill-conceived and poorly executed plan last year to double the number of institutes, which many said would threaten their elite reputation. —Shailaja Neelakantan