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Latest News |
| 21st
Sep 2010 / Business Standard |
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Full-time medical courses fail to enthuse most IITs
However, the institutes could offer inter-disciplinary
courses in medicine and engineering
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) may have got
the nod from the IIT Council to teach medicine, but barring
IIT-Kharagpur (IIT-Kgp), none of the IITs will venture
into full-time medical education in the near future.
“We will continue to offer courses related to medicine.
But we do not wish to venture into medical education full
time. We have access to good hospitals in our neighbourhood
and as and when we need good technology, we use their
services. IIT-Kgp is remotely located and needs a good
hospital facility. This move will help them tremendously, ”
said Professor Surendra Prasad, director, IIT Delhi.
IIT council, the apex decision-making body of the technology
schools, on September 11, allowed the IITs to offer medical
education after seeking approval from the Medical Council
of India to offer post graduate degrees in medicine.
The IITs can, however on their own, launch inter-disciplinary
courses in medicine and engineering. Some IITs have been
running similar courses since the past few years. The
IIT Act of 1961 will have to be amended to include medicine
as a subject that will be taught in the institutes.
“The permission from IIT Council does not mean all
IITs will give a degree in medical education. They can
offer a course. A 40-hour lecture for IITs is one semester
course whereas, universities have the power to grant degrees.
If we wish to introduce a medical course (which IITs have
been delivering) we do not need permission from the Medical
Council of India. We need their permission to grant degrees,
which IIT Kgp may be doing, ” explained an IIT director,
on the condition of anonymity.
IITs said they would indeed be happy offering inter-disciplinary
courses in medicine and engineering. “IITs starting
medical education is too far fetched. They neither have
the funds nor the expertise to expand in this area. We
could deliver post graduate courses in some specific areas
where technology is applicable or train doctors in the
use of biomedical engineering or applications. It is certainly
not about starting a medical school, ” said an official
of IIT-Madras.
For IIT Bombay and IIT Kanpur, medical education does
not figure for the next five years, at least.
“We have a good bio-medical engineering programme.
Delivering a post graduate programme means we need to
have a good hospital and carry out big expansion. We have
good tie ups with local hospitals and we are happy with
that at present. We may give it a thought five later, ”
said Professor Devang Khakhar, director, IIT-Bombay.
The whole idea of the IIT Council giving a go-ahead to
the medical education programme, explains the IIT director,
“is to facilitate IIT-Kgp which is deprived of good
medical facilities owing to its remote location. ”
IIT-Kgp had in August 2009, signed a $50-million MoU with
the University of California, San Diego, to set up a state-of-the-art
300-bed hospital, expandable to 750 bed and a research
center at the institute.
IIT-Kgp started the School of Medical Science and Technology
in its Golden Jubilee year in 2001. Its objective was
to provide a platform for interdisciplinary teaching and
research in medical science and technology.
AK Majumdar, deputy director at IIT-Kgp had recently told
Business Standard that the institute will explore the
possibilities of building the proposed medical school
on a public-private partnership.
“However, the cost of the project has gone up in
the past one year and we will need to estimate how much
it would cost us now. ”
IIT-B, TIFR to set up national mathematics centre
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Tata Institute
of Fundamental Research have signed a Memorandum of Understanding
to establish a National Centre for Math at IIT-B.
Mumbai has the largest concentration of mathematicians
in India with the majority at TIFR, IIT- Bombay and Mumbai
University. The institutes have well-developed mathematics
departments of international reputation and the faculty
members have strong research groups that would help organise
various programmes of the Centre throughout the year.
NCM will be modelled on the famous Oberwolfach Mathematics
Research Institute (MFO), in Germany, that was set up
in 1944 and played an important role in re-establishing
Germany as a leading nation in mathematics, post the Second
World War. About 50 week-long international workshops
and conferences are held per year at Oberwolfach. NCM
aims to have workshops, conferences, instructional schools
year-round for students, young teachers and researchers.
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