After allegations of flouting the reservation norms in recent PhD admissions, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay informed EdexLive that the numbers being circulated are “incorrect”.
The premier technological institute clarified that as PhD admissions are conducted in two separate batches, the current numbers cannot be translated as the final intake.
“PhD admission runs over two rounds, so we still have the Spring 2024 admissions to be conducted under the same quotas. It is premature to say that we have not filled the vacant seats till the Spring admissions are completed,” a spokesperson from IIT Bombay said.
Official data shared by the institute revealed that currently, close to 53 per cent of the seats sanctioned for PhD admissions across all departments in the institute are yet to be filled in the upcoming Spring 2024 admissions.
The students of IIT Bombay claimed that there is a disparity in the number of intakes for SC/ST (Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories compared to the reserved seats in each category. However, IIT Bombay said that the numbers shared by students do not match the official records.
Allegations by students
IIT Bombay's Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) recently shared on social media platform X (previously Twitter), that IIT Bombay has denied as many as 80 seats to SC, ST and OBC students and admitted 95 more General category students in this year's PhD admission. This was based on the RTI data obtained by the student group.
The data shared by APPSC shows that 263 PhD students admitted this year to IIT Bombay are from the General category, making up 66 per cent of the total admissions. Meanwhile, only 9 per cent of the admitted students are from the SC category as compared to the reserved 15 per cent and only 3 per cent from the ST category against the reserved 7.5 per cent of sanctioned seats.
It also showed that as many as 20 departments in IIT Bombay did not admit any ST students during PhD admissions this year. Moreover, 11 departments did not admit any SC students and five departments did not admit any OBC students this year, according to APPSC.
IIT Bombay’s official data
The official admission record for PhD admissions in IIT Bombay, as accessed by EdexLive, shows that 110 students have been admitted under the General category in PhD programmes across all departments this year. However, another document shared by the IIT Bombay shows that 42 female and 59 male candidates have been admitted from the General category.
A spokesperson from the institute explained that the remaining 10 candidates admitted under the General category are students from the SC/ST/OBC category who cleared general merit score and hence, were allotted general merit seats.
The total number of sanctioned seats in this category was 168 and the remaining seats will be filled in the Spring 2024 intake, the institute explained.
Similarly, the data showed that 46 out of 114 seats in the OBC category, making up for close to 40 per cent of sanctioned seats in this category, have been filled in the first round so far.
Moreover, in the SC category 23 out of 63 sanctioned seats (36. 5 per cent) and in the ST category, 8 out of 34 sanctioned seats (23.5 per cent) have been filled so far.
However, the data accessed by EdexLive is only for the Teaching Assistantship (TA) intakes for PhD programmes.
Departmental highlights
-Data shared by the institute shows that 11 out of 29 departments at IIT Bombay offering Teaching Assistantship (TA) for PhD programmes, admitted SC students in the Autumn 2023 intake. The mechanical Engineering department had the highest intake of SC students with five students having been admitted.
- Similarly, seven out of 29 departments at IIT Bombay admitted ST students in the Autumn 2023 intake. The Civil Engineering department had the highest intake of ST students with two ST students.
- The institute admitted OBC students in 17 out of 29 students during the Spring 2023 intake, out of which 39 are male candidates and 13 female candidates. The Civil Engineering department had the highest intake of OBC students with 7 students having been admitted so far.
