IIT Kanpur revolts, to hold separate entrance exam

Upset with the ministry's decision to merge IIT Joint Entrance Exam (IIT-JEE) with the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE), the 210-member senate of IIT-Kanpur passed a resolution rejecting the new format.

"The recent IIT Council proposal on admissions to IITs is academically and methodically unsound and in violation of the Institutes of Technology Act (1961) and IIT Kanpur Ordinances (Ordinance 3.2 (Admissions)," said the resolution.

"In view of the Senate resolution adopted in its 2011-12/9th meeting held on April 10, 2012, invoking Ordinance 3.2, the Senate resolves that IIT Kanpur will conduct the entrance examination for admissions to its undergraduate programmes in 2013."

It authorised its chairman to constitute a committee with the help of the dean of academic affairs for conducting "JEE 2013 by IIT Kanpur".

IIT Kanpur had raised a voice of dissent earlier as well at the meeting of the HRD ministry when the new pattern of exam was decided upon.

According to those present at the meeting, except IIT-Delhi and IIT-Madras, none of the IITs agreed with the new format.

The professors, alumni and those close to the IITs fear the new format will "dilute" the IITs.

IITs have been holding a joint entrance exam. However, the new format combines it with the entrance exam for the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs). It also includes a weightage of percentage from Class 12 board exams for entrance into IITs.u00a0