M Ramya, TNN | Jul 13, 2013, 03.46 AM IST
CHENNAI: Students of IIT-Madras are authorities in game theory, structural engineering and everything else technical. But the institute wants them to sharpen their social skills as well. If it doesn't come naturally, the institute plans to teach them how. IIT-M will soon introduce a life skills course that will be mandatory for all first-year students. The two-credit course in the first semester will last 30-hours, and will be activity- and project-based, institute officials said. The institute will rope in experts from within and outside the campus, including alumni, for classes in specific topics.
Other campuses have launched similar courses, but IIT-M dean of students LS Ganesh believes this is the first time that any university will attempt to fine tune the life skills of students on such a large scale. Around 900 students will join the institute this month. "It's going to be a logistical nightmare," said Ganesh.
Students will be grouped into 12 batches with 40 students in each, and the institute will have to come up with ways to hold sessions within 72 working days in the first semester.
The courses are expected to help students develop affirmative thinking, deal with success and failure, relationships, regional and gender diversity, alternate sexual orientation, health and hygiene, substance abuse, time management, decision making, communication and social responsibility.
At the end of the semester, the students will be evaluated on these skills using psychometric assessments and other tools.
IIT-Kharagpur offers a few courses on similar lines, but they are not compulsory. Another initiative being considered by IIT-M is corporate-style 'outbound experiential learning' to promote team spirit and interaction among members of the student council. There has been an increase in the number of suicides at the IITs in recent years. "Several students face stress, and academics is the least of their problems," said Sivakumar M Srinivasan, head of IIT-M's guidance and counseling unit, Mitr. "Freshers are 17-year-olds leaving home for the first time and many of them don't know how to use their new-found freedom. When they enter college they are thrust into a class full of toppers and have to cope with issues such as peer acceptance."
The IITs formed a task force under IIT-Kanpur chairman M Anandakrishnan last year to investigate the cause of the rise in suicides. The task force has made several suggestions and that are being considered by the individual IITs.
IIT-Kanpur dean of student affairs A K Ghosh said the institute is focusing on improving parent interaction and attaching faculty members to mentor students during the duration of their stay on campus.
The orientation for IIT-M students begins later this month.
