6 More IITs Eliminate Branch Change Option After 1st Year to Reduce Student Stress

In an effort to reduce student stress, six Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have eliminated the option for students to change their branch at the end of the first year. This brings the total number of IITs discontinuing this practice to nine.

Why Branch Change Was Scrapped

The branch-change option at IITs allowed students to switch to a different engineering stream after the first year, based on their Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) scores. Each branch had its own cut-off scores for accepting students from other streams. Starting this year, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Dhanbad, IIT Dharwad, IIT Mandi, and IIT Bhubaneswar have stopped this practice. IIT Bombay, IIT Hyderabad, and IIT Jammu discontinued it earlier, in 2023, 2021, and 2018, respectively.

Reasons Behind the Decision

At IIT Madras, ranked first among all IITs in the National Institutional Ranking Framework, the decision followed a periodic curriculum review aimed at modernizing education. Dr. Prathap Haridoss, Dean of Academic Courses at IIT Madras, explained that many students assume they will change their branch after the first year, but only a small percentage manage to do so, leading to disappointment for the rest.

Aniruddha Chakraborty, Dean of Academics at IIT Mandi, noted that the branch-change option created a false impression of flexibility. The institute hopes that with other options like free electives and double majors, students will be less disappointed and more focused on excelling in their chosen subjects.

Alternatives to Branch Change

Electives: These are courses students can choose based on their interests or career goals, offering flexibility to explore various fields outside their major. Accumulating electives in a specific domain can lead to a minor degree upon graduation.

Double Majors: IITs encourage students to pursue double majors, allowing them to earn a second major alongside their primary degree. Although it is not equivalent to a second degree, it provides significant specialization in another field.

Professor V K Tewari, Director of IIT Kharagpur, mentioned that the Double Major program attracts brilliant students to study areas of interest apart from their basic program, potentially without much stress as they can complete their BTech (Hons) or BS (Hons) along with a Double Major in four to five years.

Pandrangi Aditya Sriram, Academic Affairs Secretary at IIT Hyderabad, is pursuing a double major in electrical engineering and computer science. He shared that the policy motivated him to opt for double majors rather than a branch change, reducing his first-year stress.

New Curriculum Flexibility

With the branch change option abolished, the first-year curriculum need not be common across all branches. IITs are also offering new dual degree programs, such as IIT Madras’s MTech along with BTech in five years, and interdisciplinary degrees in fields like Nanotechnology, Data Science, and Electric Vehicles, aligning with industry demands.

For more information, visit the official websites of the respective IITs.

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