Joint Entrance Examination - Innovations Needed IIT system and the JEE were born in the post-war era of industrial expansion, space and nuclear research, with emphasis on engineering sciences, large scale industrialisation, etc. It has been forty years since and the world has witnessed rapid changes in practically all aspects of science, technology, engineering and even of life. The present day technological ethos appear to be a far cry from that which existed in the 1960s. A major strength of the IIT system has been the continuous examination or re-evaluation of itself, frequent self-appraisal/assessment and up-gradation of all of its functions. While we have been having major revisions of our curricula every ten years, minor reviews some times in mid-stream and introducing new courses or programs as often as we feel the need, no such effort appears to have taken place with regard to the concept and conduct of JEE. In its existence for more than 39 years, the only change that JEE has seen is the introduction of a two-tier system, whose only purpose is to reduce the volume of work in view of ever increasing numbers of candidates appearing in the examination. How is that the IITs, which are expected to be at the forefront of innovation in all technological fields, are shirking their responsibility of devising a system that is appropriate to the times? Complacency seems to have set in the pattern and conduct of the JEE. Amongst all the systems of IITs, the most static appears to be the JEE. We continue to examine the aspirants in the traditional subjects of Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics. Have we ever examined the process of selecting our students for the undergraduate programs? Is the present system valid for all times? Every engineer knows very well that the quality of the finished product very much depends as much on the initial input as on the process of making it. One cannot get a diamond out of clay or ordinary stone, however much it is polished. Are all the students selected by the present system the very best and / or the most suited to pursue a career in engineering? All one can say is that some are possibly the best and even a reasonable number of them fairly competent. Is it not a fact that most of them are products of our coaching institutes rather than intrinsically suited to fill the portals of premier technical institutes? They are as good as the system that selects them. Additionally, the expertise or the qualities expected out of an IITian are changing continually. One can easily conclude that the role an IIT graduate plays in the profession today is very different from what was expected and in fact practised by engineers of the past. Most surveys point to the fact that a large number of our graduates are taking up entreprenal challenges whether it is in the hardware or software type industries or organisations. Many of them are becoming managers and leading industrial establishments. New technologies are evolving at an increased pace and the leaders of tomorrow are expected to manage the changes that are emerging. A case can easily be made that the IITs need students who have the basic intelligence coupled with a strong urge to learn and innovate and not students who have just cracked the entrance examination. Besides adopting and managing new technologies, they are expected to be entrepreneurial. It is out of place to recommend or even suggest alternative schemes here as they have to be evolved after serious discussions and deliberations. However, the need to have a paradigm shift in our procedures for examining and evaluating new entrants to IITs cannot be over-emphasized. One simply needs to be abreast of times. In the new millennium and in the era of computers and information technology, our JEE system should be redesigned availing both the existing technology and that which is evolving. The following aspects may be considered in addition to the expected expertise in the traditional science subjects, and included in any new screening test of the JEE: 1. Aptitude towards ‘engineering’ per se; 2. Test basic intelligence rather than coached ability in problem solving; 3. Conduct test ‘on line’ at regular intervals and with a large question bank which gets updated every year and 4. Give a score or a percentile and choose only the qualifiers for the second rigorous test.
M.R.Madhav Department of Civil Engineering |
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