new delhi indian institute of technology iit delhi has decided to soften the shock treatment administered to first and second year students realising that the heavy curriculum left students little time for matters other than lectures tutorials and tests the institution has reduced its curriculum and has increased the range of courses students can choose fromthe idea was to give students time to think and innovate with a heavy curriculum students are always busy studying said dean of undergraduate studies surendra prasad the reduced load will give the student an hour of extra time every dayin the new system a student will need to complete 180 instead of 190 credits in the first second year he will also have the freedom of choosing subjects worth 24 credits earlier he was free to make a choice of subjects worth 12 creditsfor the uninitiated iit delhi has a system of credits which get accumulated in lieu of the number of lectures and tutorials attended iit professor dinesh mohan said curriculum review was a dynamic process in iit in any system that demands a level of excellence and has well endowed students there are students who face a problem he said but such cases are discussed in departmental meetings and teachers make a personal effort to help these studentsstudents from different backgrounds come here the idea behind pressuring them initially is to give everybody a fair share of academic and intellectual exposure mohan added the present change may not be radical prasad admitted but that is because teachers thought it essential to strengthen the grounding of students the move will bring about a reduction of three subjects over four years he addedincreased flexibility plays its part in lowering the stress factor too iit professors said fifty per cent credits of the total 190 had to be of the subject the student decides to major in for instance a student specialising in computer science will have to complete 95 credits in that disciplinehumanities and social science subjects account for at least 16 credits this left the student 12 credits for which he could choose his subjects prasad said to straighten out the system we have bunched together the compulsory subjects to avoid the confusion between majors and minors prasad added gautam brahma a software engineer passed out of iit delhi in the 70s since then the curriculum has undergone a sea change but he is not in favour of a diminished curriculum load work expands to fill the time iit should be seen as a stretching rather than a comfortable experience he added