The ministry’s detailed project report will require funding of Rs 3,700 crore over a period of six years. The plan, submitted to the Planning Commission, says Rs 2,500 crore will be by way of plan expenditure. The government’s plan has also been endorsed by NASSCOM.

Each of these institutes is expected to accomodate 1,000 undergraduate and 1,000 post-graduate students at any given point of time, and will require a faculty strength of 200 and a support staff of 300. The proposal reworks the concept of IIITs, by moving away from pure information technology-related education.

Instead, it is based on the understanding that “an information technologist is required to understand the information content of a system and be an expert in handling the information.” Simply put, an education in IT alone is not broad enough. Instead, an education in IT must be a fusion of IT, with one specific domain area of knowledge, such as design, manufacturing, finance, management and informatics.

Already three such IIITs have been established. The IIIT in Jabalpur specialises in design and manufacturing, IIIT Gwalior in management sciences and IIIT Allahabad in library sciences and informatics. The 20 proposed IIITs would have domain areas like media arts and sciences, financial systems, transportation systems, life sciences, tourism and travel.

The government’s proposal seeks to address the needs of preparing India for global competition. The institutes will offer a four year undergraduate programme , as well as masters and doctoral programme, which would be comparable to any internation technical university. The institutes will also be networked with IITs, NITs and IIMs.

To maintain uniformity in quality, the government proposes admissions through a centralised all India examination like the All Indian Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).

The ministry’s roll out plan aims at an intake of 75 students in the first year (July 2007), with a subsequent increase till the undergraduate intake goes up to 250 in the sixth year. While the master’s programme will be rolled out in the second year, the doctoral in the third, and post doctoral in the fourth. By the sixth year, the total intake will go up to 635.

The financial roll out of these institutes for capital investment per institute over the six year period is Rs 12,500 lakh. The recurring cost will vary for the first year. It is expected to be Rs 500 lakh, going up to Rs 1500 lakh per institute in the sixth year.