IGDTUW: All-women engineering university in Delhi planning medical, social science courses

NEW DELHI: Tosmi Goel, 20, is the first woman in her family to pursue engineering at the undergraduate level. She could not get admission in an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – a dream shared by most engineering aspirants – and finally decided on the youngest, all-women engineering university in the country, the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW). Studying at IGDTUW enabled her to be close to her father and younger brother, but more importantly, the institute's short history resonated with her dream as well.

“It is my dream to build my own car, stand in front of it, get a photo printed in the newspaper and ultimately become an entrepreneur,” said Goel, now a second-year student of mechanical and automation engineering. In 2019, the students of the institute had built a low carbon emission electric car, showcased it, and had been widely covered in the media.

Since May 2013, the university has fuelled the dreams of thousands of women and currently has over 5,000 students enrolled, pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

The institute was earlier called the Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology (IGIT). It was established in 1998 by the Directorate of Training and Technical Education, Government of NCT of Delhi as the first women-only engineering college. In 2002, the college became the first constituent college of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. In May 2013, the Delhi government upgraded it to a non-affiliating university.

Amita Dev, who came to the university as pro-vice-chancellor in 2018 and is now the serving vice-chancellor, recollected: “Since May 2013, it has been on a journey, with its own time to endear and own time to cheer. IGDTUW has been exemplary and it has now transformed into a research-led university.”

It is now among the top 200 engineering institutes in the country as ranked by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

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IGDTUW growth

As a university, the institution’s first total intake was 600. Now it has more than doubled to 1,500.

“There are more than 5,000 girls…who are pursuing their careers in STEM, management and architecture. We started with five departments and now it has increased to seven. We have nine undergraduate programmes, eight postgraduate courses and PhD in all areas. We have more than 160 girls pursuing PhD,” said Dev.

According to the statistics of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), women enrolment in engineering institutes constitutes about 29.14% of the total roll-strength; 70.86% of engineering students are male. In Delhi, the ratio is further skewed. As of 2022-23, just 19.92% of students enrolled in engineering in Delhi are women. IGDTUW clearly makes a critical intervention.

With growth in its student population, the institute’s placement scenario has also seen remarkable growth.

“When I joined, 30-40 companies used to come to offer jobs to our students. But today over 120 companies take part in placement drives. Every company wants to take the best of our students. In 2023, three of our students bagged the highest offer of Rs 1.2 crore. The highest national package was Rs 89 lakh. There are also a lot of pre-placement offers,” said Dev.

Pre-placement offers have increased as completing two months of internship every year is mandatory, right from the first year. There are cases where students of mechanical engineering have headed for international internships.

Nineteen-year-old Aiman Zakri, second-year student, has been selected to do a three-month internship at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Her area is robotics. Goel also has bagged an internship at the same university but in bio-medicine. For such students, the university also provides travel grants.

Zakri shared, “Had I been in any other university, I am not sure if I would have got the opportunity. But here teachers, peers and the alumni guide and help a lot. The environment is healthy and so is the competition”. She is also the first in her family to study engineering.

Dev excitedly remarked, “In this era of disruptive technology, we are able to provide 100% placement to students of mechanical engineering. Six years ago, seats in the programme remained empty but now, during the admission season, this course is also filled.”

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Induction, mentoring

As a student joins the university, three weeks are devoted to the induction programme. This period is for mingling with peers, international students, knowing the diversity and heritage of the institution and building team collaboration.

Being a state university, IGDTUW reserves 85% of the seats for students of Delhi NCR, the remaining 15% is for students from outside Delhi. They come from as far as Kerala, Tamil Nadu to even the northeastern states.

As the academic classes begin, one mentor teacher is allotted for every 20 students.

“The mentor is not there just to assist with the curriculum but also to help with everything related to a student’s personal and psychological problems,” said Dev. Mentors also take on the special responsibility of identifying unique capabilities of the students and guiding them accordingly.

Pooja Bhati, assistant professor, said, “As mentors, during interaction we understand what each one of them is good at. Those who are research-oriented are guided towards it and we help them write research papers. Students who have innovative ideas are put into the incubation and innovation centre called ‘Anvenshan foundation’”. The foundation has been providing funding to women entrepreneurs, not just IGDTUW’s own students but also others from across the country.

As part of the outreach programme, it is also mandatory for students to adopt and guide girl students of Delhi’s government schools. Goel, shared her experience: “It is just very nice and gave me inner happiness helping those young girls. It also helps you realise your own privilege and become more rooted.”

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Academic practices

According to Dev, IGDTUW has been practising most of what the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 talks about since 2019.

“With the implementation of Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), the electives students can take are wide-ranging. We have MOUs [agreements] with a lot of other universities and so, if any student wants to take other courses, they can do it and earn credits. Our curriculum is very flexible. The NEP talks about credits through online learning; we had already allowed it. Suppose a student gets three or six months of internship, we ask them to do the courses and take the credits.” said Dev.

The industry partners are also treated as stakeholders and are consulted while preparing the syllabus. “They are also part of the academic council and board of students. They come and speak to the students from the second year. It will help them make better choices,” added Dev.

Further, to encourage research, the university has also instituted research awards for both faculty and students. “Very soon, around Rs 45 lakh will be distributed among faculty and students to boost research output,” said Dev.

The university has also filed and been granted 40 patents. One of the important patents is for an assistive device for the visually-impaired – a cane with inbuilt sensor and speech technology.

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IGDTUW courses and plans

The university’s campus is at Kashmere Gate in historic Old Delhi. Its location in a heritage space has made expansion a challenge. “Limitation of space is stopping us. But we have now been allotted 50 acres in Narela. It will take at least three-four years for it to be completed. A boundary wall will be built very soon,” said Dev.

Once they have space, they intend to introduce social science courses and start a design vertical and biotechnology. “The need of the hour is to become multidisciplinary and in the long run, we could also have a medical vertical. It is part of our vision document,” added Dev.

As of now, the university has departments of computer science and engineering, artificial intelligence and data sciences, electronics and communication engineering, mechanical and automation, information technology, architecture and planning, applied sciences, and humanities and management.

There are postgraduate programmes in robotics and AI, VLSI design, cyber security management and others. The university also has Centre of Excellence for Science of Happiness, Centre for Sustainable Development, Centre for Social Outreach and others.