Creating new IITs

Is the step of converting existing engineering colleges into IITs a step in the right direction?

This question has constantly hovered over my mind. Recently, the HRD ministry took a decision to convert many REC's and other engineering colleges into IITs. But has this step excited the aspiring student community? The answer is both yes and no.

My reasons for the same:

1. Do the new colleges have the same infrastructure and quality teachers as existing IITS? The answer is that many of them dont and they just cannot be compared to the existing IITs. The correct step would have been to first upgrade the infrastructure in these colleges and when they reach a standard comparable to IITs, the conversion to IIT should have taken place.
2. Will the student be willing to join the new IITs? I recently heard that many students have refused to join new IITs and infact opted for other RECs. This clearly shows the trend. Just having the IIT tag is not enough. It is also important to have the same quality as that of existing IITs.
3. I strongly believe that the conversion to IIT for some colleges is justified like IT-BHU, Roorkee college of Engineering and others whcih have been producing world class engineers. But we should be careful in selection of colleges to be converted to IITs as too many IITs will definitely make the IIT tag dilute and the existing image will also degrade.
4. Will the foreign universities accpet students from new IITs with same respect and recognition?I dont think this will happen till the new ones reach the standard maintained by the IITs.
5. Students will benefit in the sense that they now can have an IIT tag associated with them.For good students , this will definitely help in finding good jobs. Earlier companies would prefer an IITian over other college students if both are at same level. But this will help only if these colleges consistently produce talented pool of engineers.

If we convert every REC to an IIT, the image maintained by IIT will tarnish and people will start pointing fingers towards IITs. Even students will loose interest in joining IITs.