Cabinet nod to bill granting degree awarding power to 15 IIITs

Fifteen Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) set up under the PPP mode were today granted degree awarding power with the Cabinet approving a bill declaring them as Institutions of National Importance.
The Indian Institute of Information Technology Public Private Partnership (IIIT-PPP) Bill, 2017 was passed by the Cabinet today to "grant statutory status to 15 IIITs set up under the PPP mode and declare them as Institutions of National Importance, to enable them to grant degrees to the students in the academic courses conducted by them".
The HRD Ministry had announced to set up 20 new Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) across the country under PPP mode, out of which 15 are already functional in Chittor (AP), Guwahati, Vadodara, Kota, Srirangam (Tamil Nadu), Una (Himachal Pradesh), Sonepat (Haryana), Kalyani (WB), Lucknow, Nagpur, Pune, Ranchi, Kottayam, Kurnool (AP)and Dharwad (Karnataka).

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This bill will entitle the 15 IIITs to use the nomenclature of Bachelor of Technology (BTech), Master of Technology (MTech) or PhD degree as issued by a university, an official statement said.
"The grant of a formal degree in Information Technology, Engineering or PhD will enhance the prospects of the graduating students in the job market and will also enable the Institutes to attract enough students required to develop a strong research base in the country in the field of information technology," it added.