Many students dream of adding the highest academic qualification to their name – the PhD. The National Institute of Technology (NIT) is among the most prestigious technical institutes of the country, and many candidates pursue the doctorate programme from the many NITs located across India.
Over the last three years more than 500 candidates registered themselves for the PhD in the top five NIT Tiruchirappalli, NIT Karnataka, NIT Rourkela, NIT Warangal and NIT Calicut. The number of PhDs awarded every year at each of these NITs is somewhere between 65 to 123. It should be noted that NITs offer both, the part time and full time PhD programmes at their campus.
Previously Careers360 has covered PhD Candidates At India’s Top Five IITs, and this article is the part II of the study. We have collated the data from the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for the full-time and part-time PhD candidates registered in the top five NITs. It helped understanding how many students were pursuing and were awarded the PhDs.
The number of candidates pursuing PhD programmes in NITs has fluctuated over the last three years since 2019-20, except NIT Warangal. Around five per cent increase was seen in NIT Warangal, rest of the NITs had decreased the number in 2021-22.
In 2022, the number of pursuing PhD candidates decreased by around 40 per cent in NIT Rourkela.
Student Pursuing Full-time PhD In Top 5 NITs over 3 Years
Institutes Names | Ph.D (Student pursuing doctoral program till 2021-22) | Ph.D (Student pursuing doctoral program till 2020-21) | Ph.D (Student pursuing doctoral program till 2019-20) |
National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli | 647 | 685 | 649 |
National Institute of Technology, Karnataka | 682 | 711 | 622 |
National Institute of Technology, Rourkela | 636 | 1069 | 1183 |
National Institute of Technology, Warangal | 480 | 457 | 500 |
National Institute of Technology, Calicut | 656 | 701 | 613 |
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The number of total PhD students who graduated and the total number of students who were pursuing the PhD programmes in 2022 decreased. Major increase in graduating PhD candidates were seen only in NIT Rourkela. The rest of the NITs showed a decrease in the graduating PhD candidate’s number.
Graduated Full-time PhD Student In Top 5 NITs over 3 Years (including Integrated Ph.D)
Institutes Names | 2021-22 | 2020-21 | 2019-20 |
NIT Tiruchirappalli | 87 | 121 | 117 |
NIT Karnataka | 103 | 104 | 114 |
NIT Rourkela | 123 | 90 | 114 |
NIT Warangal | 65 | 71 | 81 |
NIT Calicut | 89 | 96 | 75 |
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On average, for every six to eight PhD candidates pursuing, there is just one candidate graduating the programme.
The average is calculated using the data from 2019-20 to 2021-22 for the average of pursuing candidates. While the graduating average is taken from five years data which is 2017-18 to 2021-22.
Average PhD. Pursuing and Graduated Candidate
Institutes Names | Average PhD. Candidate Pursuing | Average PhD. Candidate Graduated |
NIT Tiruchirappalli | 660 | 92 |
NIT Karnataka | 672 | 104 |
NIT Rourkela | 963 | 113 |
NIT Warangal | 479 | 67 |
NIT Calicut | 657 | 89 |
For the part-time PhD candidates, the percentage of candidates graduating with respect to the ones pursuing is lower as compared to full-time PhD candidates, except in NIT Tiruchirappalli. NIT Tiruchirappalli showed a result for part-time candidates almost equivalent to full-time PhD candidates.
Pursing And Graduating PhD Candidates(Part-time) 2021-22
Institutes Names | candidates pursuing PhD | PhD candidates Graduated |
NIT Tiruchirappalli | 256 | 36 |
NIT Karnataka | 246 | 23 |
NIT Rourkela | 199 | 0 |
NIT Warangal | 279 | 15 |
NIT Calicut | 7 | 0 |
Also Read | PhD Candidates At The Top Five State Universities In India
Shockingly, NIT Rourkela has a good number of pursuing PhD candidates but over the period of five years not a single candidate has graduated from the programme.
Average PhD. Pursuing and Graduated Candidate
Institutes Names | Average PhD candidates pursuing | Average PhD candidates Graduated |
NIT Tiruchirappalli | 317 | 33 |
NIT Karnataka | 215 | 20 |
NIT Rourkela | 181 | 0 |
NIT Warangal | 207 | 13 |
NIT Calicut | 43 | 5 |
Also Read | Analysis Of PhD Programmes At Private Universities
As compared to top five IITs, the full-time PhD candidates in NITs performed better. While for part-time, the performance was vice-versa. Nevertheless, India’s technical institutes have a varied and high percentage of scholars aspiring to get the coveted doctoral degree, making sure the research sector of this country remains vibrant and competitive.
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On Question asked by student community
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