BITS, Pilani has done me proud. The announcement it has (finally) made has made me stop studying for my finals and put up a blog post! The press release, from the BITS, Pilani website:


BITS, Pilani announces a unique and pioneering method of Computer based Online test for admissions

December 15, 2004:

Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani is a highly reputed technological university in India. It is an All-India institute and all admissions are made purely on merit. From the year 2005, BITS Pilani will make its admissions to the integrated first degree programmes, both at Pilani campus and Goa campus, through an innovative and path-breaking ‘computer based online’ test.

BITS, Pilani is a deemed university since 1964 and it runs degree programmes at all levels in Engineering, Sciences, Management and Pharmacy. BITS has a modular and flexible educational structure which allows students to do two degrees simultaneously under its dual degree scheme. It has institutionalized linkages with several industries and all its programmes have a Practice School component through which students spend considerable time in industries doing projects, under the supervision of its faculty, before they graduate. BITS has produced many distinguished alumni who are occupying high positions all over the world. As an example, the latest issue of Time magazine has listed 25 most influential business persons of which two are Indians namely, Vivek Paul and Balaji Krishnamurthy, and both are BITS alumni.

At the first degree level, with 10+2 input, it runs degree programmes leading to degrees: B.E. (Hons.) in Engineering disciplines, Integrated M.Sc.(Hons.) and M.Sc.(Tech.) programmes in Sciences and Technology, Master of Management studies (M.M.S.), and B.Pharm.(Hons.) in Pharmacy. For all these programmes, for the past 30 years, the Institute was making admissions only through the marks obtained in 10+2 examinations standardized through a normalization procedure. It does not have any quota like state quota, management quota, NRI quota etc.

Since 2002, there was a demand by the Government of India to abandon this process of admission and join the government conducted entrance examination. The Institute suggested even in 2002 that a viable alternative would be a computer based online entrance examination giving flexibilities to the students in terms of choice of centers, date and time. As a matter of fact, even the National Education Policy 1986 suggested establishment of a National Testing Service. The expert committee and also the government felt that such a procedure will be useful and innovative. BITS made all the preparations and the groundwork.

On 4th October 2004, the Government issued a circular informing that Deemed universities can make their admissions through their own test which has given freedom to Institutes like BITS, Pilani to have some innovative method. BITS is happy to announce that from 2005 all admissions to the integrated first degree programmes of BITS, Pilani, both at Pilani campus and Goa campus, will be made through a computer based online test. These tests will be conducted during April-June at several centers in India.

Since the earlier method of BITS gave an opportunity to automatically have a large number of Board toppers joining the Institute, it will continue to give direct admission to first rank students from the different central/state boards.

While all admissions would be based on the scores obtained by the students in the computer based online test, the minimum qualification for admission would be a pass in 12th year examination with at least 80% aggregate marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics subjects with at least 60% in each of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics subjects.

The salient features of the computer based online test, which will be called as BITSAT-2005, are:

This innovative proposal requires large investment and the BITS management and its Chancellor, Dr K K Birla have approved the project and have agreed for the investment. It is hoped that this pioneering ‘first-of-its-kind’ effort will be appreciated by all the educationists, students and their parents and will go a long way in solving many of the long standing issues in the matter of admissions to universities.

A formal advertisement will be issued around 18th December 2004. The last date for applying for the test is 31st January 2005.

The BITS website http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/BITSAT/ will provide all the relevant information.

I am happy to see Dinesh Karthik playing for India and doing well. It also feels a little strange; I distinctly remember seeing him start his cricket as a young boy -- he was a young boy, and I was too, though a couple of years older! As a sixth standard boy, he was learning to wield the willow at K. Chandrashekar Rao's (a former Andhra Ranji player) summer cricket camp, when I first saw him. I was also attending the camp, hoping to hone my skills during the summer. I remember that I noticed him not for his batting or his keeping, but because he was chucking while trying to bowl! He subsequently took to wicketkeeping. He batted decently then but I do not remember noticing anything special. In fact, he was the twelfth man for one of the matches that we played. It amuses me to think I must have been one of his first captains, for I captained that game!

Within the next couple of years, my serious connections with TNCA league and competitive cricket were severed. When I had returned from BITS at the end of my first semester, I had been to the St. Bedes ground to watch my brother play his State selection match. Dinesh Karthik was also playing the match, and he looked to be in a totally different league in that match. He hammered a quickfire century in that match. What struck me instantly was that he handled everyone with consummate aplomb. It looked like he was having a net session out in the middle. He exhibited amazing top-hand control and was controlling his half-flicked on-drives through between mid-on and mid-wicket beautifully with his top-hand. He did not hit a single ball in the air in that innings. I went up to him to tell him what I thought of that innings, and I was surprised that he recognised me after five years! I remember remarking to my brother that some of those shots reminded me of Gavaskar (not Rohan, of course). My brother told me that he was not as good as I had thought him to be. I did not totally disregard the statement, because I will not deny having seen better players playing for the state. Tamil Nadu has never faced a dearth of talent. There were really classy players in the Under-16 and Under-19 levels -- one Vikram Kumar, a compact left-hand bat and a classy wicket-keeper, comes to mind immediately -- and it has bothered me to date that few of these players have made it to the big league. The fact that Dinesh Karthik is the only one to have made the transformation stands testimony for his solid temperament and mental strength and equanimity.

When I watched him on TV strike those backfoot off-drives off the South African pacemen with panache in the Under-19 World Cup last year, I thought he played those shots like Tendulkar! I had a hunch that he would make it to the Indian team. But, frankly, I never expected it to happen so soon. I hope he does not get the stepmotherly treatment that has been impartially meted out to all the good Tamil Nadu players, of the likes of Hemang Badani, L Balaji and Sadagopan Ramesh.

I wish I had seen his reverse-sweep off Ontong and straight drive off Pollock, for which Cricinfo had only generous praise. Seeing a person who once played with me stand up to the South African bowlers with answers to the challenges posed by them would have made my day.