New Delhi, Sept. 10: The Indian Institutes of Technology may soon offer courses in medicine. The prestigious institutes have also been allowed to employ foreign nationals to permanent faculty positions and open post-graduate courses to foreign students.
These major decisions were taken at a meeting of the IIT council presided over by the Union human resources development minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, on Friday.
However, the much-awaited reforms in the IIT-JEE entrance examination were again delayed after opposition from seven IITs, forcing the council to establish a committee to further study the issue.
“The IIT council meeting decided to carry out appropriate amendments in the Institutes of Technology Act to enable the IITs to offer the medicine programme,” said Mr Sibal.
He added that the IITs will require the approval of the Medical Council of India before launching any course in medicine.
Mr Sibal clarified that no MCI approval would be required where the IITs engaged with inter-disciplinary research for the advancement of learning and dissemination of knowledge not leading to a degree or qualification for the practice of medicine.
The council also gave the go-ahead for recruitment of foreign nationals to the faculty.
“However, their numbers should not be more than 10 per cent of the total faculty strength. We will be working with the home ministry to set up a mechanism for easy exit and entry of people as faculty,” Mr Sibal added.