Summary
At IIT Kharagpur, admission to PhD programme is held twice a year July and December
IIT Kharagpur has suspended admission to the PhD and MS (master of science) programme “due to severe shortage of hostel accommodation”.
The IIT’s joint registrar, academic, last week issued a notice stating: “Admission to the PhD and MS for spring semester 2023-24 is suspended due to severe shortage of hostel accommodation for both male and female students.”
An IIT official said that admission for the spring semester was supposed to be held in late November.
At IIT Kharagpur, admission to the PhD programme is held twice a year — July and December.
Research scholars who enrolled at IIT Kharagpur in July had been told that they needed to make arrangements for accommodation outside the institute on their own because of a “ severe shortage of hostel facilities”.
“As the crisis has worsened, this time the admission has been suspended. The crisis has now spilled over to the MS programme,” said an IIT Kharagpur official.
A professor said the decision has triggered a debate on the campus over why the authorities could not resolve the accommodation issues on a campus that is entirely residential.
“Research scholars are the backbone of any institute. The reputation of an institute depends to a certain extent on enrolling the research scholars,” he told Metro over phone.
“It is extremely unfortunate that the country’s first IIT has to suspend its PhD admission because of accommodation issues.”
A research scholar said apart from pursuing their research, the scholars also work as teaching assistants.
“The teaching assistants work in small groups, with each group attending a cluster of undergraduate and postgraduate students for tutorial and laboratory work under the supervision of teachers. Therefore, the research scholars are considered the backbone. Now, they and the MS programme aspirants cannot be admitted,” said a research scholar.
The jump in the number of research scholars over the past few years, coupled with the IIT’s failure to complete the construction of a new hostel is responsible for this situation, said a research scholar.
“We have been told over the past few years that the institute is in the process of constructing a 1,500-seat hostel. But when will the work come to an end? As the authorities are not doing enough, the crisis has now affected the MS programme,” said a research scholar.
Calls, a text message and an email from this newspaper to IIT Kharagpur director V.K. Tewari failed to elicit any response.
At the IIT, students are accommodated in 22 halls of residence —14 for boys, six for girls and two for research scholars, who stay on the campus with their families.
The researchers who stay alone are accommodated in the 20 hostels for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Metro reported on April 5 that the lack of adequate hostel accommodation, coupled with poor water and electric supply to the hostels, had been inconveniencing students so much that those featured as key issues in the students’ body elections held in April.
“It appears that the accommodation crisis has only worsened,” said a research scholar.
Last updated on 15 Oct 2023
