NIT council to meet ahead of review by Prez next month

President Pranab Mukherjee will review the performance of the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) here on November 7 and 8, during which proposals to further enhance quality and research output are expected to be deliberated upon.
The NIT council will meet here on Friday to discuss the issues ahead of the crucial meet of the NIT directors with the President, who is the visitor of these centrally-funded institutes.
According to officials, presentation on joint entrance examination and the new admission process will also be discussed, with a detailed review of the selection of students and whether there was a need for any tweaking in the system.

The new process of admission to these institutes has come under lot of criticism and protest from the students, leading to several litigations.
Confusion prevailed among the students over securing a seat in the NITs under the new admission procedure where 60 per cent weightage is given to JEE-Main and 40 per cent to board marks.
A software glitch during the counselling process had also forced the HRD Ministry to add 95 seats to the existing pool of NITs for this year only to accommodate some deserving candidates who were denied admission in the B.Tech programme.
Sources said that during the council meeting, a call is expected to be taken on how to fill up the vacant seats reserved for candidates with physical disabilities among other categories.