The document analyzes the impact of changes to India's National Institutes of Technology (NIT) admission policies in 2007 and 2008 on cultural and regional diversity among students. It finds that the pre-2007 policy of reserving a fixed number of seats for each state promoted greater diversity, while the post-2007 common entrance exam and caps on home-state enrollment have reduced representation of some regions, particularly the Hindi Belt states in northern India. Statistical testing confirms the changes in student demographics are linked to the policy shifts. The author calls for further study using more institutional data and student characteristics to better inform admission policies.

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Impact of Admission Policy on
Cultural/Regional Diversity amongst
Students
An Analysis of Indian College Admissions
Sachin Garg
sgarg6@masonlive.gmu.edu

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Research Question
Has the post-2007 Admission Policy for the
National Institutes of Technology (NITs) impacted
the Cultural/Regional Diversity amongst
Students?

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Cultural/Regional Diversity?
● Cultural/Regional Diversity matters for:
– Innovation
– Creativity
– Education Outcomes
– Citizenship Outcomes
Therefore some diversity is important for
Economic Growth & Development

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Promoting Cultural Diversity
● Necessary condition is “structural
diversity” — diversity due to sheer
numbers
● This implies People to People
Contact
● One of the best time to build these
contacts — college years

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Role of Public Policy
● Important role of Public Policy
in balancing social diversity
● Can help in building People to
People (P2P) contact
– Difficult to build P2P
contact in large, diverse
countries like India
– Higher Education good
area to build such contact
● Regional Engineering Colleges
(RECs) facilitated such P2P
via a unique admission policy

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Regional Engineering Colleges
(RECs)
● Network of Engineering Colleges
●
Joint Venture of both Central & State Governments
●
State Government:
– Land, Building & Power Infrastructure
– ½ Recurring Expenditure for Undergraduate
studies
●
Central Government:
– Laboratory & Manpower Development
– ½ Recurring Expenditure for Undergraduate
studies & All Postgraduate/Research Activities
● Governance:
– Shared between State & Centre
● Unique regional quota based admission policy
●
Upgraded to fully-central funded National Institutes
of Technology in 2007

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RECs Admission Policy
(2007 & earlier)
● Data from 1 College — MNNIT, Allahabad,
UP
● Home State: 50% of Annual Intake
● Remainder apportioned amongst other states
of the Union — each state got a fixed number
of places for its students — in proportion to
its national population
● (%STATEPOPREC
)/(%STATEPOPINDIA
) = 1
● Each and every REC — microcosm of
the nation — a “mini India”
● States free to use any mechanisms to
nominate students
– Competitive Exams
– Qualifying Examination Marks
– Mix of the above
●
Policy scrapped in 2008

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Regional/Cultural Diversity in RECs
(2007 Statewise Intake for MNREC)
Total of 530 places

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Post-2007 Admission Policy
● 2008
– Common All India Competitive Exam (AIEEE)
– Home state quota of 50% continues
– Fixed Other State Quota scrapped — remaining half
available to anyone, including from Home State
● 2012
– Capped Home State Quota at 50%
● No Home State Student can be admitted in “Other State” Quota

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Research Question
Has the post-2007 Admission Policy for the
National Institutes of Technology (NITs) impacted
the Cultural/Regional Diversity amongst
Students?

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Findings
(2007–2009 Absolute Difference)

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Percentage Changes in Student Population
by State is Consistent over Time
(Baseline 2007)

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Statistical Testing
● Are changes due to policy
change?
● Use χ2 test
● “BORDER”:
– '0' for Home State
– '1' for adjacent states
– '2' for states adjacent to 1
– '3' for states adjacent to 2
– '4' for states adjacent to 3
– '5' for states adjacent to 4

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College Demographic Over Time

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2012 Policy Impact on Hindi Belt
(%age Change wrt 2007)

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Hindi Belt Trends

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Conclusion
● There has been a significant change in the
demographics of the institute
● New policy has led to the change
● Policy changes have significant, often
unintended effects

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Limitations & Future Work
● Only 1 college data is analyzed
– College is in most populous state, in heart of “Hindi Belt” — results could be
skewed
– Could get slightly different results in the Western and Southern Colleges
● Look at other colleges — IITs and other NITs to compare
● Control for quality and quantity of other institutions in the neighborhood
● Need other demographic data including socio-economic status, caste,
education, gender, board
● Future Work
– Study in India about the diversity benefits with regards to Creativity, Innovation,
Learning Outcomes, Democratic society
– Build a larger database of students which will help inform policy

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Thank You!
Questions?

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Rajya Sabha Parliamentary
Standing Committee
Taking note of the fact that NITs have their own admission policies as far
as giving specific preference to local students is concerned, the
Committee enquired about the impact of the Bill on the interests of local
students. The Committee is happy to note that the existing admission
policy would continue under the proposed Act and there would be no
change in the composition of the student intake.
Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development
178th Report on the National Institutes of Technology Bill, 2006” (Presented to the Rajya
Sabha on 23rd November, 2006)

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Data
● Admission Data of Motilal Nehru NIT,
Allahabad, UP (North India)
● MNNIT is one of the older NITs (est. 1961)
● Actual Admission Data 2009–2012
● Use Existing Quota in Place for 2007 and
earlier
● Impute 2008 data using 2009 Distribution

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Hindi Belt
Year Percentage of
Students
Belonging to
the Hindi Belt
(Annual
Intake)
Number of
Students
Belonging to
the Hindi Belt
(Annual
Intake)
Total Annual
Student Intake
Total students
in College
Belonging to
Hindi Belt
2004 67.17% 356 530 -
2005 67.17% 356 530 -
2006 67.17% 356 530 -
2007 67.17% 356 530 1424
2008 92.42% 585 633 1653
2009 96.38% 585 607 1882
2010 98.61% 783 794 2309
2011 98.69% 828 839 2781
2012 91.55% 758 828 2954

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Annual Intake & College
Demographic (2007-12)
Year
Border
0 1 2 3 4 5
2007
Annual Intake 265 75 57 36 37 60
%age College 50 14.15 10.75 6.79 6.98 11.32
2008
Annual Intake 467 97 29 6 6 28
%age College 56.77 14.48 9 5.13 5.26 9.36
2009
Annual Intake 467 97 29 6 6 2
%age College 63.65 14.96 7.48 3.65 3.74 6.52
2010
Annual Intake 650 117 17 6 4 0
%age College 72.11 15.05 5.15 2.11 2.07 3.51
2011
Annual Intake 692 129 11 3 4 4200
%age College 79.22 15.32 2.99 0.73 0.7 1.04
2012
Annual Intake 420 316 46 13 31 2
%age College 72.65 21.48 3.36 0.91 1.47 0.13

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Summary Slide
●
Cultural/Regional Diversity?
●
Promoting Cultural Diversity
●
Role of Public Policy
●
Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs)
●
RECs Admission Policy
(2007 & earlier)
●
Regional/Cultural Diversity in RECs (2007 Intake in MNREC by State)
●
Post-2007 Admission Policy
●
Research Question
●
Findings
(2007–2009 Absolute Difference)
●
Changes in Student Population by State is Consistent over Time
●
Statistical Testing
●
College Demographic Over Time
●
2012 Policy Change (Hindi Belt)
●
Hindi Belt Trends
●
Conclusion
●
Limitations & Future Work
●
Thank You!
●
Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Standing Committee
●
Data
●
Hindi Belt
●
Annual Intake & College Demographic (2007-12)