New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has completely overhauled its curriculum after 12 years, aiming to reduce student burden and better align with rapidly evolving industry demands, according to the institute’s Director, Rangan Banerjee. The last major curriculum revision at IIT Delhi was conducted in 2013.
In an interview with PTI on Tuesday, Banerjee explained that the revamp process began in 2022 and was driven by significant changes in industry needs, including the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and an increased emphasis on sustainability. “The industry demands are rapidly changing... there is a whole new emergence of AI and focus on sustainability,” he said. The institute gathered extensive feedback from stakeholders, including alumni, students, and faculty with active industry and societal engagement, to design a more flexible and engaging curriculum.
One of the key objectives of the revision was to ease the academic load on students. Banerjee said, “The concern about burden on students was definitely one of the factors which guided our curriculum revamp.” To achieve this, the number of core credits per semester has been limited, especially in the first two semesters, when first-year students typically face a heavy load. Additionally, class sizes for the initial semesters have been reduced from 300 to 150 to enable more personalised attention.
Banerjee also highlighted the focus on experiential learning as a method to reduce stress while maintaining academic rigor and choice. “We have focused on learning by doing... we want to ensure that we have elements of rigour and choice in our curriculum and then try to minimise the load,” he said.
The revamped curriculum introduces an honours programme as an add-on to the BTech degree. Moreover, undergraduate students can now apply to pursue an MTech degree at IIT Delhi after completing their third year, enabling them to graduate with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years.
In a significant update to programming education, AI-based code generators have been integrated into the introductory programming course, with mandatory training on the responsible and ethical use of AI for students across all BTech streams. “This will future-proof them,” Banerjee noted. Sustainability training has also been embedded across the curriculum, alongside increased opportunities for hands-on learning, internships, and teamwork to better prepare graduates for impactful careers in India and globally.
The 15-member curriculum committee reviewed syllabi from eight leading institutions, including Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge University, Harvey Mudd College, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, as well as IIT Bombay, Gandhinagar, and Hyderabad.
Banerjee described the revised undergraduate programme as “an outcomes-based, flexible curriculum that allows for choices in general engineering, basic sciences, and humanities courses.” Students can also pursue minors or specialisations in diverse fields. The curriculum emphasises early departmental exposure starting in the first year, along with laboratory and tutorial components to foster deeper engagement with faculty. Modules on environment, sustainability, creative expression, and ethical reasoning have been integrated to prepare students for current global challenges.
From the 2025 academic session, IIT Delhi will introduce three new courses: a BTech in Design, a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, and an MTech in Photonics.
The MTech-MS (Research) programme has been redesigned as an outcomes-based curriculum focused on industry engagement and project-based learning. Two mandatory components—a capstone project highlighting problem-solving through teamwork and a summer internship emphasising external connections—aim to make graduates industry-ready.
Banerjee also noted that flexibility is a key feature of the new curriculum, allowing students to explore courses outside their core academic units and to complete master’s theses in industry settings across various programmes.
With PTI inputs