‘Focus On Making IIT Curriculum More Relevant'

EXERCISE IN EMPOWERMENT: IIT-D Director Rangan Banerjee Wants Students To Be Allowed To Grow At Their Own Pace

- Shradha Chettri

New Delhi: In less than a month of taking over as director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, professor Rangan Banerjee is embarking on a process of reviewing the curriculum. After a decade, it needs to be made more relevant, he says, and multidisciplinary inputs have to be incorporated because the IITs are no longer simply engineering institutes but broad-based universities. Talking toTOIat his office, Banerjee also stressed the need to allow students at the IITs to grow at their own pace and help create an ecosystem that facilitates increased interaction between students and teachers.

Banerjee, 58, was a professor in the department of energy sciences and engineering at IIT-Bombay. In fact, he says that while his former institution is his “comfort zone”, he “will be fine here too”. After assuming charge at IIT-Delhi on February 15, he has been holding meetings with the stakeholders, including the over-450 faculty and the students.