Dr TG Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, with other dignitaries at the induction event

IIT Guwahati inducts 153 female students into BTech courses this year, but there's a long way to go

By doing so, it surpassed the target for female enrollment set by the JEE Apex Board Committee of 17 per cent. Most other IITs have ratios that aren't quite as robust

In a new development that seeks to bridge the gender gap in education, Indian Institute of Guwahati announced that it had admitted 153 female students in the BTech program for the 2019-2020 academic session. Through this, the institute has surpassed the target for female enrollment by admitting 18.46% female students to undergraduate engineering programs, against a projected target of 17% set by the JEE Apex Board Committee.

Welcoming the new batch of students, Dr TG Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, said, “IIT Guwahati is happy to admit close to 18.5% female students this year. Additionally, given the rising demand and interest of students in disruptive technologies, we at IIT Guwahati have introduced four new programmes for the academic session 2019-2020. The new programmes comprise of three international joint degree programs with Gifu University, including international joint PhD degrees. These unique programmes will emphasise the integration of both theory and practice. To provide an all-inclusive learning experience to the students, laboratories and practical training will be an integral part of these courses. These programmes will nurture students to enhance research design thinking and a global mindset in the enrolled courses and are also expected to lead the international community in successfully achieving the 'sustainable development goals' set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. The curriculum will identify solutions for a sustainable society through optimal utilization of resources that would also benefit North-east India.”

As many as 829 students were admitted in BTech courses this year, out of which 153 are girls, and 676 are boys as compared to 112 girls and 608 boys admitted last year. A total of 40 students were admitted in the BDes course this year, out of which 16 are girls and 24 are boys. Interestingly, the most number of girls (19) were admitted into Mechanical Engineering, a discipline which has been traditionally considered to be male-dominant. This is followed by Computer Science Engineering (18) and Civil Engineering (17).