IIT Kharagpur has resumed admission to its PhD programme that was suspended last year because of the absence of adequate accommodation facilities for research scholars.
Since the accommodation issues have not been entirely resolved, the institute has said in its PhD admission notice: “As far as possible, the students are accommodated in the halls of residence.”
“Due to paucity of accommodation in the hostels at present, research scholars, who are offered admission, may have to stay outside the campus or share the accommodation on campus during their initial months until they get a suitable accommodation on the campus,” the notice adds.
The institute last week got three new hostels that can together house 1,500 people. A few more hostels are being developed.
An official of the institute said they decided to resume the PhD admission for the spring semester, which starts in July, as the new hostels are expected to accommodate the PhD entrants.
“However, they may not accommodate all the research scholars, so students may
have to share the accommodation or stay outside during the initial months,” the official said.
The suspension of the PhD admissions last October triggered protests among a section of teachers who wrote to the director that it “would have an effect on the ranking of the institute and the IOE (Institute of Eminence) mandate”.
IIT Kharagpur is a residential campus and is supposed to offer accommodation to all its students and research scholars.
The institute now has 22 halls of residence: 14 for boys, 6 for girls and 2 with family accommodation for research scholars.
The researchers who stay alone are allotted berths in the other 20 hostels.
Written tests and interviews to be conducted in the respective departments/centres/schools for the shortlisted candidates will be held from May 2 to May 15.
The date of admission is July 15.
On October 10 last year, the institute suspended admissions “due to severe shortage of hostel accommodation”.
An IIT official said: “The crisis is not as severe as it was before. So, the PhD admissions have resumed.”