IIT Delhi Adopts Outcomes-Based UG, PG, And PhD Curriculum

The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) has revised the curriculum of its Undergraduate, Postgraduate and PhD programmes. Each course in each programme has been reviewed and revamped. The new curriculum will be implemented from the academic year, i.e., 2025-26.

IIT Delhi reviews its curriculum periodically, approximately every ten years. The current curriculum review process was initiated in early 2022. During the curriculum review exercise, extensive feedback was taken from various stakeholders, i.e., from thousands of students, alumni, and industry experts. Each department in turn obtained further feedback from hundreds of stakeholders to frame the finer aspects of the curriculum.

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The main themes of the revised undergraduate curriculum are flexibility, a deep focus on hands-on learning, and, in line with the needs of the modern world, emphasis on environment and sustainability, creative expression, ethical reasoning, and emerging trends in technology (such as artificial intelligence and machine learning).

Speaking about the curriculum review, Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi, said, “We have reviewed and revamped our curriculum to make our graduates future ready. The new curriculum has emerged after extensive stakeholders’ feedback and provides flexibility and hands on learning for our students.”

The revised undergraduate program is an outcomes-based, flexible curriculum that allows for choices in general engineering, basic sciences, and humanities courses.  Further opportunities for pursuing a minor degree or specialization in a variety of areas have been incorporated.

An honours programme has been introduced as an add-on to the B. Tech. degree. Additionally, an undergraduate student can now petition for an M. Tech. degree in any available M. Tech. programme at IIT Delhi at the end of their third year. This will allow a student to graduate with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years.

Respecting the students’ feedback, the Institute has decided that the candidates joining the Institute through JEE (Advanced) will be able to continue to change their program, based on their merit, at the end of the first year.

The revised curriculum has a strong focus on hands-on learning. Students will be given an early exposure to the department, i.e., in the first year itself. Laboratory and tutorial components in most departmental courses allow students to engage with faculty in a deep and meaningful manner. Modules related to environment, sustainability, creative expression, and ethical reasoning have been built into many courses to ready young engineers for current global challenges. In addition, all first-year courses are now mandated to have small class sizes.

One of the important changes that has been introduced in the curriculum is in programming education by integrating AI-based code generators into the introductory course on programming. Students will be taught how to use AI responsibly to write better programs for more complex problems in less time. This innovation will future proof the graduates of the next decade across disciplines by nurturing them in the mode of programming that is taking over the world.

In terms of credits, all programs have a small reduction in credits, with a more focused core. Many branches are now offering a flexible core curriculum. This will allow students to take up more elective courses and will support additional options such as the honours programme, minor degrees, specialization, and advanced M. Tech./MS (Research) degrees.

The M. Tech./MS (Research) curriculum has a rationalized, outcomes-based programme structure, with an emphasis on industry connect and project-based learning. Two mandatory components – one capstone project emphasizing problem-solving through teamwork and a summer internship emphasizing external-connect in the new curriculum – will make our students industry-ready. Flexibility is built into the revised curriculum, allowing students to explore courses outside their core academic unit. Flexibility to undertake the master’s thesis in an industry is also facilitated in various programmes.

Coupled with research communication skills and professional ethics underscored in the M.  Tech. /MSR curricula, students will also be ready to do research in their chosen profession. A provision for conversion to a PhD degree while pursuing M. Tech. /MSR is also provided. Two departments have also merged some of their M. Tech. programmes.

In this curriculum review exercise, the Institute has also formalized the PhD curriculum, which emphasizes producing independent researchers with ethical utilization of transferable skills in a professional setting. The curriculum also facilitates external/industry connect and the development of collaborative skills to advance domain knowledge.

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The detailed curriculum review exercise involved updating content in each course in each program for each degree. Wherever required, new courses have been introduced to bridge gaps in learning. Restructured course modules are all based on an outcomes-based education framework.

In addition to the curriculum changes, the following new academic programs are initiated from the academic year 2025-26:

1- Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech.) in Design- Entry through JEE (Advanced), UCEED qualification required.

2- Bachelor of Science (BS) in Chemistry, entry through JEE (Advanced)- First BS programme at IIT Delhi

3- Master of Technology (M. Tech.) in Photonics, full-time students need to qualify GATE (or equivalent).