The crème-de-la-crème of Indian engineering colleges have shaken off their thoroughly technical coat by offering degrees in more streams. Sean Sequeira gives you a breakdown of the few nonengineering subjects you can study in an IIT
Long gone are the days of the IITs being looked at as colleges solely for budding engineers. The Indian Institutes of Technology were started with the primary aim to provide a quality education to engineering students, but with the increasing number of students in the country, the IIT colleges have opened their doors to more departments and have allowed expansion in their campuses. The cream of the crop in Indian engineering colleges now serves up more degrees (and diplomas) in multiple streams and brings together students from more platforms into one large conglomerate. Here are some of the few non-technical subjects that are offered by IIT colleges.
Management
Now, if you are pursuing a management degree, you need not go to an Indian Institute of Management. You can walk into one of the IITs at Mumbai, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Delhi, Chennai or Roorkee and pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme. These IITs have schools of management and the relevant departments within the campus which offer degrees in the core specialisations of Finance, Marketing, Operations, Human Resources, Information Technology and more. Some of the programmes offered also include options for a student to major in specialised subjects within business like Technology Management and Business Analytics.
“The facilities available at IIT Bombay are quite good, at least from the point of view of a Design student. There are adequate facilities that I would need for my particular course in Visual Communication.”–Anvesh Dunna, Visual Communication student, Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay
Design
Most of the IIT colleges also offer courses in the field of design. Ranging from Animation and Visual Communications courses to programmes in Product Design and Ergonomics, there are many options for students of design to choose from. The Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED) is the all-India
entrance exam students must take to study design programmes in the IITs at Mumbai, Delhi and Kanpur. The CEED is conducted once a year, in the end of January or beginning of February, by IIT Bombay and after clearing it, there are interviews and other requirements from the individual colleges.
Humanities and Social Sciences
One of the more surprising fields to be available at technical colleges is Humanities and Social Sciences. Some colleges have also incorporated subjects from this field into their engineering courses. Courses under this category cover a wide range of subjects which include Human Resource Development, Social Ethics, English and Sanskrit based language subjects, Gender Studies, Film Studies and many more. Admission processes vary from college to college as some IITs require a Joint
Master’s Design Programmes at IIT Colleges
IIT Bombay – Industrial Design, Visual Communication, Animation Design,
Interaction Design, Mobility and Vehicle Design
IIT Delhi – Industrial Design
IIT Guwahati – Design
IIT Kanpur – Industrial Design
IIT Bombay also offers a Ph.D Programme in Design
One of the main reasons I joined IIT Bombay was the fees and scholarships. If I had joined an institute such as National Institute of Design (NID), I would be paying close to Rs. 4.5 lakhs as course fees for a two year programme. At IITBombay, I am only paying Rs. 1.5 lakhs which includes course fees, rent and mess for a 2-year programme. –Abhishek Verma, Animation Design student,Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay
IIT Schools of Management
Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur
Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management (SJMSoM), IIT Bombay
Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi
Department of Management Studies (DoMS), IIT Madras
Department of Industrial and Management Engineering (IME), IIT Kanpur
Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee
Entrance Exam (JEE) score while some other institutes have their own process; for example, IIT Madras has a Humanities and Social Sciences Entrance Examination (HSEE).
Law
It is possible to acquire an LLB from an IIT college as well. For those who would like to pursue a degree of Bachelor of Law, the programme at IIT Kharagpur is quite a good option. The programme is a six semester, three year full-time residential course in accordance with the Bar Council of India. The degree provided at the end of the course is an LLB with specialisation in Intellectual Property Rights. It is also possible to follow the degree up with a doctorate at IIT
Kharagpur itself as they offer a PhD programme in law.
The IIT PhD programmes cover topics in multiple disciplines, thus it is possible to attain a doctorate from an IIT in a field other than engineering. IIT Gandhinagar, for instance, offers PhDs in Psychology and Sociology, apart from the conventional Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering subjects which are available in engineering colleges. There is also a PhD programme in
Liberal Arts which can be completed at IIT Hyderabad, a programme in Management Studies which is available at IIT Delhi and a PhD in Design at IIT Bombay. Admissions to the PhD courses are primarily interview based.
Volume 2 Issue 8
