IIT Delhi eases CGPA criteria; BTech students can now graduate by passing all required courses – AyraNews24x7

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has relaxed the overall cumulative grade point average (CGPA) criteria for academic performance, allowing students to obtain a bachelor’s degree by passing all required courses. This is a significant policy change aimed at addressing mental health issues after recent cases of student suicides on campus.

Earlier, a minimum of 5 CGPA was required to earn a degree. However, under the new policy, students can now be granted their degree with 4 CGPA. The decision to implement this new rule was taken earlier this year by the institute’s Senate, which is the highest decision-making body of any IIT for all academic purposes.

Passing all the required courses will result in a CGPA score of 4, which is now the minimum criterion for obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

CGPA is an index of the academic performance of a student, reflected throughout his/her course duration.

‘A significant policy change’

“This is a significant policy change that has been brought in to provide support to students. This means that their academic progress will be monitored and students who were struggling to get CGPA 5, as was the case till now, will not have to stress about getting their undergraduate degree, as they will just have to pass all the courses they have opted for to get their degree. This is a big change from before,” said Prof ND Karur, Dean (Academics) at IIT Delhi.

Karur further said that the new approach will allow students to progress at their own pace. “Students who are struggling will be monitored and assigned mentors to help them manage their academic progress,” he said.

IIT Delhi director Rangan Banerjee said the institute has also revised its resumption and termination policies. “This means we will allow students to progress academically by putting them on probation. So, in principle there will be no termination on this ground,” Banerjee said.

“In the Senate, we have also added a provision that if a student fails in some courses, he or she will be allowed to choose similar courses to complete his or her degree, based on the consensus of the academic units. So, we are trying to simplify the procedures for students,” he said.

Changes in grading criteria were one of the major demands made by students, who raised several issues including the grading policy, social isolation and the need for a system to provide feedback on faculty members. These concerns were discussed during an open house with the institute’s director this February. The open house was held after several incidents of student suicides last year.

In 2024 alone, five student suicides have already been reported in various IITs, including two in Kanpur and one each in Delhi, BHU and Roorkee – all first-generation IITs. A significant number of these students belong to reserved categories.

In December last year, IIT Delhi set up an ‘Academic Progress Group’ comprising faculty members and student advisors to assist students struggling with backlogs and extended degrees. This group identifies struggling students from each department and provides them support throughout their programme.

“At present, there are around 30-35 students from different departments in the academic progress group. They have been assigned mentors to guide them in the courses in which they have not been able to progress. One of these students has done so well after getting guidance that he has now become a mentor himself. The number of students allowed to stay with parents is less than ten,” said a faculty member, requesting anonymity.

It also allowed students to live with a family member on campus in “exceptional cases” and reserved hostel seats for those pursuing extended degrees beyond the regular semester period to help them complete their degrees.

IIT Delhi will hold its annual convocation on August 10, where 2,600 students will receive their degrees at the 55th convocation.