With More Seats In New IITs, Focus On AI, How Budget 2025 Will Give A Boost To Higher Education – News18

Last Updated:February 01, 2025, 17:05 IST

Experts say government’s announcement on expanding infrastructure in five new IITs and setting up of Artificial Intelligence, ‘the funding needs to be sustained and the projects must be executed the way it should be’

In a significant push to higher education, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced to expand infrastructure across five newer IITs (established after 2014) to accommodate 6,500 more students and setting up of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) centre of excellence in education while presenting the Budget for 2025-26.

News18 spoke to experts, including former and current IIT directors and faculty as well as those in the private sector to elaborate on what this will mean for the higher education sector? The move comes at a time when the total number of students at the 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has almost doubled over the last decade.

According to experts, these are “welcome steps”, but at the same time “the funding needs to be sustained and the projects must be executed the way it should be”.

The finance minister while presenting her eighth consecutive Budget said the total number of students in the 23 IITs has increased by 100% from 65,000 to 1.35 lakh over the past 10 years.

“Additional infrastructure will be created in five IITs established after 2014 to accommodate 6,500 more students. The hostel and other infrastructure capacity at IIT-Patna will also be expanded,” the FM said in her Budget speech.

Known as third/generation IITs, IIT-Palakkad, IIT-Tirupati, IIT-Jammu, IIT-Dharwad, IIT-Bhilai and IIT-Goa were set up after 2014. Some of these campuses are still in the process of constructing parts of their campuses.

Prof V Ramagopal Rao, former IIT-Delhi director and current Group Vice-Chancellor (V-C), BITS Pilani campuses, said the IIT system has been in a need of expansion for long given the number of students qualifying the entry-level exam and the much larger intake by global universities.

At present, the total strength of B. Tech students across 23 IITs is even less than a lakh. This should at least double over the next few years.

“The expansion is a step in the right direction, but it should not be just a one-time increase since the intake in IITs needs to be expanded. We have so far remained tiny given the large numbers of students. There has to be a roadmap for a sustained increase in capacity over the years to come with a scale-up model where the government has a set target of an annual increase with simultaneous boost in infrastructure,” said Rao.

He said every year the intake of B. Tech students across 23 IITs is just 17,000, which is fewer than what a single university in competitive countries admit in a year. Not just the newer IITs, older IITs too need to be expanded with extended campuses.

For example, IIT Delhi has extended campuses in Jhajjar and Sonepat, but there has been no money to develop them as full-fledged campuses. Even IIT-Madras has an extended campus. “Much more funding is required for this, as extended campuses for older IITs need to be developed as full-fledged campuses where they can start with the first-years,” he said.

With more focus on Artificial Intelligence, Rao said India needs much more investment in the sector since it has a lot to catch up with countries like China, the US and some European countries. “The government’s focus is a welcome step, given the way it has executed and carried forward with the same commitment,” said Rao.

Prof Arnab Bhattacharya, who teaches computer science at IIT-Kanpur, shared Rao’s views on how India needs to make up for its lost time in AI race. “The world is already AI-driven. We have the talent and the potential; we just need an organised push towards it. This is a significant announcement,” he said.

Prof M Jagadesh Kmuar, chairperson, University Grants Commission (UGC), said expanding the infrastructure of five IITs and creating 5,000 additional seats will increase access of quality higher education for all.

“The budget for digitising the storage system for the academic credits through the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) has also increased to Rs 16 crore,” said Kumar.

IIT-Madras director Prof V Kamakoti also said expansion of the third-generation IITs is “crucial”. “This will benefit a good number of students. I am glad this step has been taken,” he said.

The FM also announced that over the next five years, under the PM Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme, the government will provide 10,000 fellowships for technological research in IITs and IISc with enhanced financial support.

“Today, there’s uncertainty in research. We expect five years of time to be spent to work on a research problem. There’s also peer pressure, as other graduates go on to work in the industry earning well while research students are still in research. This is indeed an important step for boosting research and for more students to invest their time in it,” said Prof V Kamakoti.

On the expansion of capacity in IITs, Husien Dohadwalla, Co-CEO, Crimson Schools, said this initiative is a significant step towards meeting the increasing demand for high-quality technical education in India.

“By enhancing facilities and capacity, we are not only creating more opportunities for aspiring engineers but also ensuring that our institutions remain globally competitive,” he said.