Analysis Of PhD Candidates At India’s Top Five IITs
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Analysis Of PhD Candidates At India’s Top Five IITs

Atul AdeUpdated on 21 Dec 2023, 09:07 AM IST

India, historically, has been famous for its academic excellence. Our research scholars, scientists and laureates in literature have proven their brilliance in respective fields for long. It is no surprise then, that even today many dream of having the highest academic qualification to their name - the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Moreover to receive this honour from India’s most prestigious technical institutes, the Indian Institute of Technology is definitely a noteworthy achievement, which many may aspire but only a few finally achieve.

Analysis Of PhD Candidates At India’s Top Five IITs
Analysis Of Part-Time & Full-Time PhD Programme In Top IITs (Source: Shutterstock)

In the last three academic years till 2021-22, more than 2,000 candidates signed up for the PhD programme at each of the top five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in the country. An analysis of the last five years shows that on an average around 230 candidates could successfully complete the PhD programme every year. Which means around 1/10th of the total candidates were successful in getting the PhD degree from top five reputed IITs.

There has been a steady increase in the number of candidates admitted to the PhD programme in all the IITs. While the number of candidates who completed the programme decreased in the last three years, except at IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi.

Careers360 has considered data of full-time and part-time PhD candidates registered at top five IITs. This data has been obtained from the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), by the Ministry of Education.

Pursuing PhD Programme: Top IITs

The number of candidates admitted in PhD programmes has increased in all IITs over the last three years.

Around 99 per cent increase in the number of PhD candidates is seen in IIT Bombay in three years from 2019-20.

Student Pursuing Full-time PhD In Top 5 IITs over 3 Years

Institutes Names

2021-22

2020-21

2019-20

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

2392

2168

2112

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

3114

2826

2349

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

3745

2069

1879

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

2136

1936

1742

Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee

2360

2100

1880

PhD Candidates Course Completion

Almost all the IITs showed an increase in the number of candidates pursuing PhD over the years. In terms of course completion, in the last three years the numbers have sagged for IIT Madras, IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur in the year 2020-21. While, IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur showed an increase of just seven and four per cent respectively during the same period of time.

But in 2021-22 only IIT Kanpur and IIT Roorkee had decreased the number of graduates who had successfully completed the PhD programme compared to previous year.

Full-time PhD Student In Top 5 IITs over 3 Years (including Integrated Ph.D)

Institutes Names

No. of Ph.D students graduated (including Integrated Ph.D)2021-22

No. of Ph.D students graduated (including Integrated Ph.D)2020-21

No. of Ph.D students graduated (including Integrated Ph.D)2019-20

IIT Madras

231

203

264

IIT Delhi

238

224

196

IIT Bombay

416

122

205

IIT Kanpur

190

208

232

IIT Roorkee

169

185

235

Average Pursuing vs Passed Candidates In Full Time PhD Programme

Every year these five IITs award just one PhD candidate with a doctorate degree for every 9 to 14 PhD candidates pursuing the programme.

For our analysis, we’ve considered the data from 2019-20 to 2021-22 for the average of pursuing candidates. While the graduating average is taken from five years data from 2017-18 to 2021-22.

Average PhD. Candidate Pursuing and Graduated


Institutes Names

Average PhD. Candidate Pursuing

Average PhD. Candidate Graduated

IIT Madras

2224

230

IIT Delhi

2763

223

IIT Bombay

2564

234

IIT Kanpur

1938

203

IIT Roorkee

2113

215

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PhD Candidates In Part-time Programme

In 2021-22, IIT Delhi had the highest number of candidates pursuing PhD programmes in the part time mode while IIT Bombay had the highest number of graduates.

IIT Madras does not have a single student who completed their PhD part-time programmes in 2021-22.

Average PhD. Candidate Pursuing and Graduated

Institutes Names

Candidates pursuing PhD

PhD candidates Graduated

IIT Madras

43

0

IIT Delhi

630

69

IIT Bombay

303

303

IIT Kanpur

34

5

IIT Roorkee

307

12

Average Pursuing vs Passed Candidates In Part-Time PhD Programme

In IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur and IIT Roorkee, the graduating numbers for part-time PhD are better than the full-time PhD candidates. Here, for every one graduating student there are, on average, three to 11 PhD candidates.

The average of pursuing candidates is taken from three years data from 2019-20 to 2021-22. While the graduating average is taken from five years data from 2017-18 to 2021-22.

Average PhD. Candidate Pursuing and Graduated

Institutes Names

Average PhD candidates pursuing

Average PhD candidates Graduated

IIT Madras

39

3

IIT Delhi

569

85

IIT Bombay

318

126

IIT Kanpur

30

4

IIT Roorkee

262

24

It should be noted that the number of PhD (full-time) candidates graduating every year is lower than the new joinees for the same programme. A very few PhD candidates actually complete the programme and get the doctoral degree, in comparison to the ones pursuing it.

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