IIT-Bombay students who cannot complete 4 years of BTech can now leave after 3rd year with BSc

IIT-Bombay has now under the new National Education Policy 2020 started to offer a new option to students that they can exit in the 3^rd year with a BSc degree instead of a BTech degree. They will receive the BSc degree if they complete 60% of the total credit requirement. Fifteen people have so far used the offer which allows them the early exit. These students are among those who could either be having trouble clearing their courses or keen to try something else

The NEP recommends colleges to have multiple entry and exit options. However, students can only join IITs through JEE, which makes lateral entry impossible. For multiple exits, NEP recommends offering a certificate, a diploma and a degree if students intend to exit after the first, second or third years, respectively. Unlike other universities, the senate of the institution have not agreed to offer the exit option after every year but only after the third year.

Elaborating on how NEP has made way for flexibility in higher education, S Sudarshan, deputy director of the institute, said core courses and a number of electives are offered at the institute to allow flexibility to students. “Students, therefore, have a wide choice of courses across disciplines to choose from. Apart from flexibility, new disciplines beyond traditional lines envisaged by the NEP have been encouraged at IIT-Bombay such as the School of Management, School for Entrepreneurship, and others,” he said.

IIT-Bombay is currently increasing intake in several minor programmes to ensure that students learn many subjects outside of their specialisation. After a suicide on campus, the college had among other alternatives, done away with branch change option at the end of first year but a lot of minor programmes were introduced as an alternative.