Daybreak - What can BITS Pilani do that the IITs can’t?

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

For decades, the 60 year old BITS Pilani, one of the most prestigious science and engineering institutions in the country, has been second to India's crown jewels–the IITs.Now, the institute is on a mission under the leadership of its Group Vice Chancellor, V Ramgopal Rao. A syllabus revamp after a decade, a US$100M endowment fund from alumni, 10% of faculty from industry, allowing a year off for startups—BITS has taken some major leapsIt wants to be on the top with the IITs.Tune in.Recommended reading: BITS Pilani is tired of playing second fiddle to IITs by Alifiya KhanDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.  

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcasts, you've probably heard me, my interruptions, my analogies, and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too? It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Raman Ganeshan, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission.

We want to tell the secret sauce stories of India's greatest companies. Stories of how they were born, how they fought to survive, how they build their organizations and culture, how they manage to innovate and thrive over decades, and most importantly, how they're poised today. To do that, Sita and I have been reading books, poring over reports, going through financial statements, digging up archives, and talking to dozens of people. And if that wasn't enough, we also decided to throw in video into the mix. Yes, you heard that right. Intermission has also had to find its footing in the world of multi-camera shoots in professional studios, laborious editing, and extensive post-production.

Sita and I are still reeling from the intensity of our first studio recording. Intermission launches on March 23rd. To get alert, as soon as we release our first studio recording, episode, please follow intermission on Spotify and Apple Podcast or subscribe to the Ken's YouTube channel. You can find all of the links at the ken.com slash I am. With that, back to your episode. You are going to need a minute to process this number. As of last year, Harvard University's endowment, which is made up of donations and investments to the institution, was worth almost $51 billion. Yes, you did hear that right. That amount is more than the government-owned

Baymouth LIC's market value. The endowment to Howard's engineering and applied sciences school alone is almost worth $2 billion. But this is Howard we're talking about. It has been getting contributions from its alum and I for almost 400 years. Now, think of IIT Delhi. What? one of India's best engineering schools. It only set up an endowment four years ago. Since then, it has received commitments for over $60 million. But even with the IIT name, getting big donations requires some serious effort.

The person who got the endowment for IIT Delhi started is now doing something similar for IIT's rival institution, the one that has had to be the second best for decades. Bits Pilani. The man we are talking about is V. Ram Gopal Rao. He is the former director of IIT Delhi and now he is the group vice-chancellor for Bits Pilani and Rao is on a mission. He wants Bits to be the best, better than the IITs. He wants students and faculty to choose it over the top IITs of the country. But as you can well imagine, it is quite a challenge. RAU will have to make many pieces of a very complex puzzle fall into place.

He has to establish a $100 million endowment, he has to double the PhD intake at the institution, and also ensure a 20 times rise in the grants for faculty members who are keen on founding companies. In order to pull all of this off, Rau has to find something, something that Bits can do and the IITs, cannot. What could that be? Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the Ken. I'm your host Nick Dha Sharma and I

don't chase the news cycle. Instead, thrice a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I will come to you with one business story that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today is Wednesday, the 28th of June. Rao was in the United States recently for an alimani meet. His team of trusted lieutenants and him had one goal, to raise money for Bitsbillani. Rao is exploring avenues to establish an endowment fund worth $100 million. Now, this is a very ambitious number. Think of the current times that we are in.

The tech boom is fading away and the job market, well, you know what's happening there. Till just three years ago, India's top colleges were basking in endowment glory. IAT madras had raised. $85 million by 2021. It is one of the biggest coppice funds for an Indian institution. And after this, it began to aim even higher to raise more money in the next five years. Then came the global downturn. But all of this is not stopping Rao. For two long, bits has played second fiddle to the IATs. Now, it doesn't want to stay in their shadow anymore. So Rao has big plans. He wants to up its own.

game in research and innovation. Bits has target to double the number of its PhD students to 3,600 by 2024 and it wants 100 patents filed by next year. Rau says that in terms of research, Bits is where IIT Delhi or Mumbai was five years ago. So if it wants to be taken seriously, it has to catch up. He told the Ken reporter Elifia Khan, who wrote this report, that until 2022, Bits had less than 1,000 research students annually. The IITs have thrice that number. Bits also wants to score big on the startup front. In his first strategy email that he sent in May,

Rao told the faculty that the Institute's dedicated fund for patent filings and startup development would be increased by 20 types. So far, BITS counts 12 Unicorn founders amongst its alumni. The IITs have more than six times that. 73. But let's not forget, BITS is a private university. So the kind of challenges that it faces are quite different from what the IITs do. Stay tuned.

First of all, being a private university means that compared to the IITs, Bits is more expensive. So it has to slash its educational costs and Rao knows this well. He acknowledges that the fee for undergraduate education in bits is twice that of IITs. And even if a student gets into a lesser IIT, they choose it over bits because of affordability. So the efforts towards the endowment fund are partly to solve this issue. Rao says, and I'm quoting, if we can offer more scholarships, can retain the best students. The second challenge is that it has to keep pace with the IIT's financial backing and research facilities.

Because to get top faculty, an institution has to nail two things, funds and research students. This is what a former director of one of the older IITs told the Ken. The challenge for Bits is that it has limited access to government grants. So, he told us that it lacks paid research scholars. And then there's the other thing. Traditionally, private institutions in India have given more importance to undergraduate education rather than postgraduate and doctoral programs. Bits, like many others, was no exception to this.

Until 2021, the university had more than three times the number of undergraduate students compared to those pursuing PhDs. And Rao admits this too. He said, and I'm quoting, research is expensive. No revenue is generated. More undergraduate students means more fees. It gives you a cushion to run universities. That is why most private universities are weak on research.

End quote. But to be on top, universities have to step up their research and patent came. These factors may not directly hurt their business, but the number of studies, patents, citations and papers published, by faculty and students holds massive sway in the ranking systems. So, Rao has been busy for the past few months. A few weeks ago, the faculty at Bits was informed that a grant of 2 lakh rupees that used to be offered to new faculty members for registering startups has gone up to 40 lakh rupees.

Also, a fund of 15 crore rupees was announced to encourage more interdisciplinary projects. Moreover, Bits has also tied up with RMIT University, which is a public research institute in Australia. This is to offer joint PhD programs. Under this, it plans to enroll over 50 PhD candidates this year. While the first two years will be funded by Bits Bailani, RMITS will take over the remaining two years. This step towards internationalization could also be a strategic move to earn a list. additional ranking points. Coming up next, to really increase its chances of reaching this ambitious goal,

Bits needs to tune into what it is really good at. Stay tuned. Even industry experts feel that Bits needs to play to its strengths. So after over a decade, a major syllabus revamp is underway at the Institute. A committee, including faculty from the IITs and National Institute of, technology, industry experts and startup founders has started consultations to include newer programs that are more attuned to the industry's needs. But the biggest strength of Bitsbilani lies in its industry linkage and alimini network. And according to many industry professionals,

it hasn't even scratched the surface there. Rao meanwhile says that work has started on both the fronts. For example, the institute recently advertised for positions of professors of practice, asking people from the industry to apply. In the words of Rao, and I'm quoting, what I want bits to do for engineering is what Ashoka University has done for liberal arts in 10 years. Now, not everyone joins Jawaharlal-Nirw University or Delhi University by default. The best minds pick Ashoka. End quote. We may think challenging India's crown jewels, the IITs, may be a bit far-fetched. But here is what we should remember.

Bits Spelani is a 60-year-old institution with a legacy of thousands of founders and high-ranking executives. And that counts for something. Daybreak is produced from the Newsroom of the Ken, India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of our subscriber-only offer. A full subscription unlocks daily long-form feature stories, newsletters, subscriber-only apps and podcast extras. Head to the ken.com and click on the red subscribe button on the top of the website. I am Snigda Sharma your host and today's episode was edited by my colleague Rajiv Sien.