RTI Series | Over 800 Students Dropped Out Of Top IITs Each Year In Past 6 Years, Shows Data – News18

Last Updated:April 04, 2025, 10:54 IST

The number of students dropping out peaked during 2020-21 and 2021-22, the phase that saw students transition from pandemic-induced lockdowns and virtual classrooms, to being back on campus as educational institutions re-opened, according to data obtained under the RTI Act by News18.

As many as 860 students on average dropped out across five first-generation IITs per year between 2019 and 2024, with the highest dropouts being from Masters’ and PhD programmes. The number of students dropping out peaked during 2020-21 and 2021-22, the phase that saw students transition from pandemic-induced lockdowns and virtual classrooms, to being back on campus as educational institutions re-opened, according to data obtained under the RTI Act by News18.

Five of the seven first-generation Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) – IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Madras, IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Guwahati – saw 5,294 students across undergraduate (UG), post-graduate (PG) and research programmes dropping out of these institutes between the years 2019 and 2024, as per data.

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Analysis of the data shows that on an average, 295 students dropped out per year at IIT-Kharagpur, 234 students at IIT-Kanpur, 178 from IIT-Delhi, 127 at IIT-Madras and 26 students at IIT-Guwahati. A significant number of students dropping out were from those in the EWS, OBC and SC/ST categories. However, the number of dropouts from the general category were still higher.

According to data, among these five institutes, the highest number of dropouts during the said period are from IIT-Kharagpur at 1,772, of which 825 were research scholars, 785 PG students while 162 were UG students.

IIT-Kanpur saw 1,405 students dropping out during the same period. Of this, 742 were Masters’ students, a high number of whom were enrolled in MTech, MBA, MDes (Masters in Design) and MSc programmes. While 419 were PhD students, 214 were from dual degree programmes and 30 students were from UG programmes (BTech/BS). Dual degree programmes are meant to allow students both bachelors’ and masters’ degrees with a course duration of five years. The highest dropouts under dual degree courses were those enrolled in the BT-MT programme.

IIT-Delhi had 1248 students dropping out between 2018-19 and 2024-25, of which 69 were in 2024-25 (till January 2025); 173 in 2023-24; 236 in 2022-23; 422 in 2021-22; 159 in 2020-21; 131 in 2019-20 and 51 in 2018-19. In IIT-Delhi’s response, it did not give programme-wise break-up for the same.

Similarly, while IIT-Madras in its response did not give the year-wise break-up for each programme, of the total 763 students that dropped out from the institute during 2019-2024, 395 were from MTech, 167 were PhD students, 91 were MS (research-based) students, 43 from the MSc programme, 13 from MBA/EMBA, 29 from MA and 6 from dual degree programmes. Of the total, 19 were BTech students. In addition, 16 of the total students were from the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) category, 14 of whom were pursuing MTech.

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Data from IIT-Guwahati shows that of the 106 students who dropped out from its various programmes during this period, 75 were PhD students, 28 were PG students while only three were UG students.

Dropouts peaked during the pandemic

According to data, approximately 1375 of the total students who dropped out from the five IITs during the said period were in 2021-22 while over 900 quit in 2020-21. The pandemic struck in March 2020 after which there were massive lockdowns while classes shifted to the online mode. In 2021, some of the institutes opened partially, but students returned to campus in full swing only in 2022.

IIT-Kharagpur saw as many as 474 students drop out from the institute in 2020 while 441 in 2021, which is the highest number of dropouts seen during 2019 and 2024.

Similarly, 323 students dropped out from IIT-Kanpur in 2021 while 270 quit in 2022. IIT-Delhi had 422 students dropping out in 2021-22, 236 in 2022-23 and 159 in 2020-21. IIT-Madras did not provide year-wise break-up of dropouts in its response.

Data shows that the trend of dropping out continued for Masters’ and PhD students well in 2023-24 as well. Even the number of dropouts pre-pandemic as well were mostly from PG and research students.

According to a faculty member in one of the older IITs, though the trend is “concerning”, the number of those dropping out of PhDs has been on a rise over the past decade, the pandemic just aggravated it. “Masters’ programmes too, there have been a considerable number of students who quit midway. There are several factors behind the issue. One of the major issues is jobs. The industry has not been able to create a space for quality research. None of the corporates, barring a few, boast of an extensive R&D division. They have not been investing in research as such, which is a major issue. India needs companies to invest in quality research to be on par with developed nations, both for academia as well as technology. Most students would want to take up research when there are attractive job roles attached to it,” said the faculty member, not wishing to be named.

The faculty member added there are other socio-economic factors as well, including the pressure to earn and support family since, upon graduating, it takes around 5-6 years for a PhD to complete. The pandemic, when there was a complete economic slowdown, forced many students from humble backgrounds to drop out of research programmes and take up jobs instead. However, in the case of Masters’ students, many of them get into PSUs or other government jobs, the results of which are announced a month after seats are allotted.

Govt’s stance on IIT dropouts

The IIT-Council, which is the top decision-making body for all 23 IITs in the country, in its last meeting chaired by union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in April 2023 had discussed the issue of students dropping out at length. As per the minutes of the meeting, it was decided that IIT-Kharagpur would obtain inputs from all IITs to frame a strategy to address the issues that lead to dropouts.

According to data shared by the ministry in the Parliament in July 2023, 8,139 students from reserved categories had dropped out from IITs between 2019 and 2023.

The ministry, however, did not share the data to a similar question on the increase in the number of students dropping out of IITs and central universities asked in the ongoing budget session of the Parliament. A written reply to the question on April 2 by Minister of State (MoS) Sukanta Majumdar instead stated that in the higher education sector, students have multiple options and they choose and migrate from one course or programme to another. “As such there is no concept of dropouts in higher education. However, to increase access to higher education, the government has taken various steps like financial assistance and scholarships like PM-Vidyalaxmi and PM-USP scheme, among others,” the MoS stated.