Latest news with #TimothyGonsalves
Time of India
15-06-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Yes, JEE! IITs are closing the gender gap, but there's still a long road ahead
IITs continue to remain at the centre of the middle-class dream of pride and prosperity. But for many years, female students were left on the margins of this aspiration. While the 2025 results underline the continued dominance of males in engineering (82.7% of the total qualifying students in 2025), the record pass percentage of girls this year shows that a lot has changed since 2018 when IITs introduced an affirmative action scheme by adding extra seats for girls. Seven years ago, the situation was dire with women constituting a shockingly low 8% in the BTech degree, a number that had stayed stagnant over the nearly 60+ years of the existence of first-generation IITs. Nobody found anything odd about this since engineering was coded 'male' until Prof Timothy Gonsalves, former director of IIT Mandi, took matters in hand and piloted the scheme known as the 'Supernumerary Seats Scheme' (SSS). The evidence to convince the IITs Council that the scheme was necessary and would not lead to a 'dilution' in the quality of students, came from two sources: JEE data showing that many women who qualified did not join IITs for varying reasons such as getting admission to 'male' branches like civil and mechanical, and parental concerns about safety and distance from home. Girls had little choice in their admission, as we found out in the first open house held in 2018 at IIT Delhi for JEE Advanced qualified girls and their parents. The second source was a 2016 IIT Delhi study that showed that irrespective of the JEE rank they entered with, female students outperformed their male peers. It is intriguing that only the IITs have been plagued by the extremely low percentage of female students in engineering; the national average is around 30%. Southern states had already initiated a 33% reservation for girls in the 2000s. So, ironically, it's the so-called Institutes of National Importance (INIs), the IITs, that barred women from their portals, reifying the image of elite engineering as a male preserve, in the process depriving not only STEM of diverse perspectives on research and innovation but also women of stellar role models and networks that the IITs generate. Female faculty numbers in these institutions also remain low – a story for another time. The SSS scheme has been successful on several fronts. It has met its stated target of raising the percentage of girls to 20% by 2020, which improved to 22% in 2024. There are important wins to be noted here. A perusal of JEE data shows that the number of women appearing for JEE Advanced has risen by 33% between 2018 and 2025. More critical indicators of the scheme's success are the percentages of those who qualify and those who get a seat allotted. Prior to SSS, females represented 12% of all (males and females) who qualified and 9% of those who were allotted seats. Post-SSS, the percentage of women allotted seats had more than doubled to 19.8 % in 2024. The rate of growth of seats allotted increased from -1.4 % per year between 2011-17 to 4.1 % between 2018-24. The rising percentage of women allotted seats since 2018 is a function of the extra seats as well as girls being able to meet their preferred choices of institute and department, resulting in rising acceptance rates. This stemmed the drift away to an NIT or an engineering college near home. Further good news, as recent work by STEMtheGap, a research project housed at IIT Delhi, shows, is that even if some supernumerary girls enter IITs at somewhat lower JEE scores and ranks, they catch up with their male peers and perform similarly while exiting the program. How successful has the scheme been in opening the doors to engineering as an educational and career choice for young women? Our qualitative studies with girls who entered IIT Delhi post-SSS show that families across caste categories are factoring in women's higher chances of getting into an IIT, as are schoolteachers and coaching centres. The additional girls have changed the feel of IIT campuses, resulting in a more welcoming environment and less isolation. Since the scheme also ensures that every department reaches 20% representation, it prevents the bias caused by the clustering of women in 'lower-ranked' departments. The scheme also follows mandated caste reservations, thereby addressing gender imbalances within caste categories. The scheme has thus increased both gender and caste diversity in IITs, apart from breaking disciplinary stereotypes within engineering. To further increase the female pipeline for IITs, it is important to initiate measures that address deep-rooted biases about girls' and women's inherent STEM abilities and remove structural barriers built into entrance exams; such steps can help reshape the environment for inclusion. Further, initiatives like open houses and mentorship programs, which bring schoolgirls to IIT campuses for an immersive experience, are also key to changing the mindset that women are unsuited to engineering. Kaur is professor, IIT Delhi and co-lead on STEMtheGap research project Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
The Hindu
12-06-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Supernumerary seats at IITs boost female representation, but STEM gender gap starts early
IITs admit over ten thousand students every year for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Numerous studies and reports show an abysmal gender ratio in this student group. The number of female students at IITs, however, is slowly but steadily improving. Many attribute the increased representation of female students to the Supernumery Seat Scheme (SSS), introduced by the IIT Council in 2018. The scheme made additional seats available for female candidates, rather than using the reservation method. While the addition of seats has indeed boosted the number of girl students going to IIT, skewed gender ratio at the Olympiads, a platform for students who excel in school-level Science and Mathematics, shows structural problems in gender equity in STEM. Schemes such as Supernumery seats address the gap in one intended area, such as UG for IITs, NITs, but there is a need for sustained effort at the junior level to get more women interested in Maths and Science. A good push at the junior level could be promising for improved female representation in STEM. Numbers increasing For the undergraduate programmes at IIT, admissions happen through the JEE examination. More female candidates are appearing and qualifying for the test. The JEE Advanced 2025 results show progress in the area of gender representation, with 9,404 (17.3%) female candidates qualifying, the greatest number since 2017, which was 7,137 (14.1%). Each IIT has its own admission process for many of the postgraduate programmes. Though the number of test takers may improve, familial and societal expectations that often confine women to traditional gender roles pose as barriers to achieving parity. The authors of Lab Hopping: Women Scientists in India interviewed the director of ISRO's human spaceflight in 2018. During her young days, V. R. Lalithambika, a specialist in advanced launcher technologies, qualified to be a student at IIT Madras; however, pressure from elders to start a family meant staying back and studying at a local college. Nevertheless, she found her way to the top. Supernumery Seat Scheme It is for women like V. R. Lalithambika that the committee under the chairmanship of Timothy Gonsalves implemented SSS. Under this, extra seats were added in all the branches, until the percentage of women therein reached 20. Research from the STEMTheGap project shows that, barring IIT Kharagpur, all IITs now comprise 20 per cent female students in their Engineering programs. Certain rules govern supernumery seats for female allocation at IITs. The qualifying cut-off marks for each program of every IIT are computed in a gender-oblivious manner. Every program has two pools of seats: Gender-Neutral and Female-Only. The Female-Only pool includes supernumerary seats, if any. Female candidates are eligible for both pools. A female candidate, however, first competes for a seat from the Female-Only pool. Only after she fails to get a seat from this pool will she compete for a seat from the Gender-Neutral pool. These rules of seat allocation ensure that there is no reduction in the number of available seats for non-female candidates compared to the number of available seats. It is also said that the number of seats in the Gender-Neutral pool of an institute (e.g., IIT Kanpur) in 2025 will not be less than the number of seats in the Gender-Neutral pool in that Institute in 2024. Increased representation of women An IIT Madras spokesperson shared data with The Hindu, which showed increasing representation of female candidates at undergraduate courses as a result of implementation of supernumery seats. The percentage of female students rose from 16.4 in 2015 to 20.7 in 2025. The UG courses at IIT Madras saw 138 female students in 2015, as compared to 839 male students. In 2025, the number of female candidates rose to 234 and males to 1129. It shows a 4.3% increase in female students in the decade. This overall increase in representation of women at IITs is reflected in the student statistics posted on the Council of Indian Institute of Technology. The top five IITs (as per NIRF 2024 rankings) show a trend of bringing down the gender gap. At IIT Kharagpur, female students were slightly above 1500 in 2012. The same year, the institute had a little over 8000 male students. In 2021, the number of female students increased to almost 3000, whereas male students were a little over 11,000. Between 2012 to 2021, the ratio of female students rose from about 18 women per 100 men to 26 women per 100 men. The scheme brought the difference between male and female students at IIT Kharagpur from nearly 70% in 2012 to less than 60% in 2021 -- a closing of at least eleven percentage points in the gap. Need for inclusion efforts at junior level Recently, the Indian team for the 2025 International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO), to be held in Sochi, Russia, was officially announced. The six-member team includes only one female candidate. The National Standard Examination in Junior Science (NSEJS), which is an annual examination conducted in India aimed at high school students, is the first stage for selection to IJSO. At this first stage, the gender ratio is skewed. Students then go through a few stages of elimination to be selected for the international level. The enrollment numbers for females in NSEJS lag behind males. The percentage, however, has consistently increased over the years. It went from over 29 percent female enrollment in 2020 to over 42 percent in 2024. The 17th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA2024), which bagged numerous medals, comprised only male students. The same is the case with the team for the 15th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA), which consisted of only male candidates.
Indian Express
02-06-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
At 22.7%, girls shine bright in JEE Advanced
AS THE results of JEE Advanced 2025 were declared on Monday, a significant milestone was achieved with 22.7% of female candidates qualifying for admission to IITs, marking the highest pass percentage for girls in recent years. Out of 41,337 girls who appeared for the highly competitive national-level exam, 9,404 cleared the test. This indicates an increase in the number of girls qualifying for the IITs, a promising shift since 2018 when female supernumerary seat scheme was introduced to address low and stagnant female representation in the prestigious institute. Under the scheme, additional seats were created exclusively for girl students, with a target of reaching 20% enrolment within five years. In 2018, the pass percentage of girls in JEE-Advanced was 13.47%. It increased to 16.11% in 2019, and peaked at 19.98% in 2021 until now. Meanwhile, the qualifying score to make it to the common rank list this year was 74, down from 109 last year, and 86 in 2023. Officials attributed this to more difficult papers this year. In 2022, the qualifying mark for the common rank list was lower – 55. The seat matrix released by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority on Monday shows 18,160 seats are available across the 23 IITs, up from 17,740 last year. Of the total IIT seats this year, 1,598 are supernumerary ones for female candidates. Prof Timothy Gonsalves, former Director of IIT-Mandi and the chair of the committee that introduced the supernumerary seat scheme, welcomed the development. 'The motivation behind the scheme was to ensure that enough girls enter IITs and become role models for the next generation — proving that IITs are viable, welcoming spaces for girls to pursue higher education. What we are seeing now is that vision taking root. I expect this upward trend to continue,' he said. Although, increased pass percentage will not automatically translate to increased number of enrolment of girls in IITs, experts are pointing out that the trend indicates a larger picture that increasing number of girls are excelling in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects, which has been a purpose behind multiple outreach programmes held in the past to encourage girls to take up STEM courses. Whether it is 'Manasvi' by IIT-Delhi, which focuses on schoolgirls from Classes 9 to 12 to encourage them to explore careers in STEM; or the WISE (Women in Science Engineering) initiative by IIT Bombay, which invites girls from multiple high schools to IIT campus for a week-long workshop to introduce them to exciting new careers in STEM, various IITs are conducting similar outreach activities. Various IIT professors have noted that girls were always seen shining bright in board exam results but this talent was not going to STEM courses. Furthermore, almost all IITs have held dedicated open houses for successful female candidates and their parents, addressing their concerns such as campus life and safety issues, which may have been keeping them from joining IITs for higher education. Prof Aditya Mittal of IIT-Delhi, a former chairperson of JEE Advanced, emphasised that this progress is a result of addressing three key challenges that had historically limited girls' entry into premier institutes. 'One of the biggest hurdles was the stigma associated with certain engineering branches, often perceived as male-oriented. With evolving curricula and the changing nature of engineering work, combined with open-house events organised by IITs, these misconceptions are being addressed. The second major barrier was the reluctance of parents to send their daughters far from home. Now, with 23 IITs , students from nearly every state have an institute closer to home, which is easing parental concerns,' he said, adding that the third concern has been safety and campus culture.
