Public Policies for IITs/CFTIs/CUs/HEIs

Actively involved in drafting policies for HEIs, maintaining a delicate balance between stakeholders: Government and academicians while developing impact-driven public policies. Most are in Public Use

IIT JEE Reforms (2006 – 2015)

Pioneered transparency, common examination (JEE), common counselling (JoSAA/CSAB), and systematic reforms in Engg. admissions for IITs/NITs/IIITs/CFTIs. The proposal led to institution of National Testing Agency (NTA). These concepts have been adopted for admissions in most disciplines in the country.

1. Prior to 2006, IITs admission examination/processes were marred with several types of irregularities, irrationalities, ad hoc-ism, etc., due to the complete opaqueness of the system. For example,

   
   

   • Student(s) with marks as high as 279 were not admitted, though students with fewer marks of 154 were admitted. The then IIT-JEE subject cut-offs {37, 48, 55} in 2006 became single digits {1, 4, 3} & {5, 0, 3} in subsequent years, respectively in 2007 and 2008 out of 182 in Maths, Physics, Chemistry, making IIT-JEE a laughing stock in public.

   • There were errors in questions and answer keys; ambiguous instructions in the question paper led to wide-ranging manipulations.

   • A student was admitted to multiple institutions, leading to a national waste of time, resources, efforts, etc. Hundreds of seats remained unfilled, leading to backdoor admissions.

   A student was unaware of why one was selected/rejected due to the opaqueness of the system.




2. As a Professor at IIT Kharagpur, I discovered several such irregularities through research & analysis of admission-specific data. The Hon'ble High Court termed the then situation of IITs admissions with "a proverbial situation of it being darkest beneath the lamp … if becomes known to the world at large, may make them (IITs) a laughing stock in the eyes of their clients."




3. My tenacious decade-long efforts of cleaning up IITs admissions led to wide-ranging reforms in admissions through transparency, well-defined prior decision-making, and standardized processes, as

   
   

   • Subject cut-offs were fixed a priori at 10% of the Max. Marks for GEN category and others;

   • Students were allowed to carry the question paper, model answer keys were uploaded, and feedback about correctness was given. The corrected answer keys were uploaded and used for final evaluation.

   • A carbon copy of the ORS was made available to candidates, and the evaluated ORS was uploaded for verification of marks before the announcement of the final result;

   • Pioneered Common Examination (JEE (Main)) for UG Engineering admissions;

   • Conceptualized Common Counselling (JoSAA/CSAB) for UG engineering admissions in all CFTIs. Multiple rounds of counselling for filling most seats through centralized seat allocation.

   • Institution of National Testing Agency (NTA) for most admission (MCQ-based) examinations.

   The above methodologies have been adopted by most UG and PG admissions and MCQ-based examinations across almost all professional disciplines, benefitting millions of students every year.




4. The Hon'ble Supreme Court hailed me as one of the many unsung heroes who helped in improving the system. The Apex court also asked, "IITs and the candidates who now participate in the examinations must, to a certain extent, thank the appellants for their efforts in bringing such transparency and accuracy in the ranking procedure." Moreover, the inclusion of common examinations in NEP 2020 is a testimony of my work.

Quantifiable Accreditation Guidelines: A Paradigm Shift in Regulations: In Public Use (2008 – 2011)

Authored NBA Accreditation ABET Compliance, Guidelines for U.G. Engg. Programs. Conducted National Awareness Workshops (Public use: July 2009 to Jan. 2013).

1. Co-authored output-based quantifiable accreditation guidelines for UG Engg. Programs and defined quantitative Academic Performance Indices (APIs) for engineering faculty (2009).




2. Authored solely output-based quantifiable ABET-guided accreditation guidelines for UG Engg. Programs. Conducted All-India workshops for awareness and training. The National Board of Accreditation (NBA) was made an autonomous body. (2009 – 2011)




3. This work led India to join the Washington Accord in June 2014.

   
   

4. Revised guidelines are in public use.

Misc. Proposals submitted to the Ministry (2018 – 2023)

1. Grievance Redressal by a neutral third party in HEIs (Nov. 2018).




2. Common Entrance Examinations in Central Universities: My proposal differed from the CUET 2022; however, the current CUET is inching towards my proposal after Delhi University adopted CLAT for its LLB Program 2023 (March 2021). Including Common Examinations in NEP 2020 is a testimony of this work.




3. Prevent suicides in IITs, resulting in a draft OM in Feb. 2023: Proposed measures and processes for mental well-beings, early alert generations with the involvement of several stakeholders, and grievance redressals (GR) for preventing unfortunate incidences in IITs. Most of these measures have been adopted by IITs for the prevention of suicides (2022 - 23). This proposal was an extension of my Grievance Redressal Proposal for CFTIs (Nov. 2022 – Feb. 2023)




4. Implementation of Common Counselling for CUET (Oct. 2022 – Apr 2023). The Prototype developed with the ‘Samarth’ (DU) was planned for Common Counselling 2024 and onward.

Academic Services at JNU (2015 – 2024)

1. Proposed dual-degree programs in engineering with social sciences and admissions and counselling through JEE (Mains) and JoSAA (2016–17), led to the School of Engineering in JNU.




2. Drafted JNU’s anti-plagiarism policy (2016-17); replaced by UGC Regulations, 2018. Initiated IPR policy (2017).




3. AICTE recognition of the M.Tech. Program (2016 – 17),




4. Addition of laboratory courses in the academic programs of the School (2015 – 16),




5. Institution of Research Advisory Committee (RAC) for every PhD student in the School (2015– 16). It was later adopted by JNU and subsequently adopted in UGC Regulations, 2018.




6. Introduced Academic Ethics course for thesis students (2016–18),




7. Initiated a seminar series combining sciences and social sciences (2018),




8. Suggested to have a common protesting venue in JNU for minimizing disruptions in work (later, Hon'ble High Court directed for the same), etc. (2016),




9. Suggested adopting the existing national level entrance examination be considered for admissions for all postgraduate and doctoral admissions, e.g., GATE and NIMCET for admissions in MTech and MCA of the School of Computer & Systems Sciences (2018 – 21),




10. Adopted a new work culture in Feb. 2016, through which no teaching or research guidance has been interrupted due to any lockdown, strikes, protests, etc. (2016 onwards).

Most of the above are in public use. Some of these are being counted as flagship initiatives of the then Vice-Chancellor, Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar (now, Chairman UGC).