IITs have hit upon a new plan to attract more students to the teaching profession and research work and at the same time increase their revenue. The IIT council chaired by the human resource development minister Kapil Sibal has considered a report by the Anil Kakodkar committee, which has suggested that operational costs should be generated by increasing the fee structure.

Currently students pay Rs 50,000 per year (i.e., Rs 2 lakhs for the entire four-year course). However, the operational cost for the institute is Rs 2 lakhs per year per student. The committee has proposed that students not taking up teaching or research work after completion of the course should pay back the additional 6 lakhs. Students who pursue MTech or PhD and then take up teaching need not pay back the money. With this move, IITs expect an increase in PhDs from 1,000 now to 10,000 by 2020.

The certificates of the students will be available on an electronic database of certificates in DMAT format. This database will be available by 2013 after an approval from the Finance Ministry. A bill in this regard will be introduced in the winter session. Students will be tracked through this electronic database and any student opting for non-teaching profession will be asked to pay up the excess fees amount. The employer of the student will be asked to remit this amount.

Students from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and poor families who do not pay fees now will be exempt from this. Also, students who are on scholarships or have been granted interest subsidy on loans will be exempt.

The council is also considering a proposal for a single entrance test for all engineering institutes from 2013. The exam will be aptitude-based and will give weightage to class XII marks. A committee under Science and Technology Secretary T. Ramasami has come up with a formula for normalization of marks as there are around 40 different boards with different marking systems. Minister Sibal will take a final decision on this after a meeting with heads of all states.