Chennai: Of the 100 top rankers in Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Advanced), only five chose the top-ranked engineering institution IIT Madras last year.
Having secured the top rank the second year in a row, IIT Madras director Bhaskar Ramamurthi expressed hope that the perception of the institution will change in an exclusive interview with Deccan Chronicle.
Excerpts from the interview:-
Q Did you expect the top rank second time in a row?
No. We know how we are doing with respect to last year. We saw that we have improved in many areas. But I cannot know how others have done. Our placements got affected in the last two years due to the natural disasters - Chennai floods and Vardah cyclone. So I could not be sure we would get number one but I knew we had improved. The rankings and awards are reflections of the quality of research, industry engagements and the outreach programmes in our institution.
Q IIT Madras has scored low in perception parameter?
Perception is based on opinion survey. IIT Bombay is perceived to be the better institution than us. We cannot directly influence the perception. Hopefully, it will change as we get the top position in rankings.
Q Still, the top 100 rank holders are not choosing IIT Madras?
That’s also based on the perception. We are trying to find out the reasons through a self-assessment. If there are any real issues we will try to address it. We are getting faculties as good as any other institution.
Q IIT Madras scored the highest in outreach and inclusivity parameter. Can you share the reasons?
Traditionally, we had the better proportion of women and lot of students from other states. Among our faculty members, 12 per cent are women. Even filling up of reserved category seats has been good. We do a lot of outreach programmes as well.
Our long-standing programmes have given an edge in this area. We also leading in research particularly industry sponsored research.
