New IIT-Guwahati Director plans extension centres in northeast

Guwahati, July 5 (IANS) Newly appointed Director of IIT-Guwahati (IIT-G) T. G. Sitharam is planning to expand the reach of the institution to other parts of the northeast by opening extension centres.

Sitharam, who took charge of the institution on July 1, said this while speaking to the media on Friday.

The Director said that the move, however, requires permission from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD).

"The IIT-G has already established itself as a brand and it is ranked very high among the universities of the world. We have world class infrastructure here to carry out advanced research and have state-of-the-art scientific and engineering facilities," he said, adding that the institute can help state governments across the northeast in finding solutions to many problems.

"The extension centres is an idea we are planning so that we can expand the reach among the people of the region. It requires permission from the highest level. But we are going to work for it," he said.

Sitharam, who had led many institutions across the country in the past, added that he wanted to see the IIT-G among the top 100 institutions in the world in the next five years.

He identified the lack of international students and faculties as one of the main drawbacks of the institution and said that the problem will be addressed through Masters and Ph.D programmes to attract a larger number of students from the BIMSTEC and SAARC countries in the near future.

Sitharam said that there was also a need to explore possibilities of joint Ph.D programmes with different IITs matching faculty interests and utilizing the national facilities available.

He said that the IIT-G will soon have a centre for disaster preparedness as the northeast region falls under the Seismic Zone V.

Sitharam added that he will also lay stress on teaching self control and discipline to the students as well as the faculties by having regular yoga and meditation camps in the campus premises.