IIT-M To Turn Your Ideas Into Reality With A Gap Semester

BENGALURU: IIT-M is really planning to make it easier for entrepreneurship students with great ideas to attend businesses along with continuing their studies. Students most often are stuck with the dilemma of either pursuing the business idea they have or completing the studies. Leaving studies in the midst of semester to start a business costs a lot, and thus IIT-M has come up with an idea to allow the students to leave the campus for one semester and then again join back at the end of it.

Dr. Ashwin Mahalingam, faculty advisor of C-TIDES, The Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT-madras said, “Entrepreneurship functions well when it's full time.” He further added, “Right now, we have set firm deadlines of one semester off, but of course we would closely monitor and might allow some extensions for those who are doing absolutely well."

The students planning to start a business will get their ideas evaluated by guiding faculty members and can also get incubated at the IIT-M Incubation Cell. The administration is planning to design separate courses for students, so that even though they leave the semester they will not miss out on anything. Dr Ashwin also said that the program will be aligned with parents’ desires who want their sons and daughters to be a full time IIT-graduate. 

Dr. Krishnan Balasubramaniam, dean of IC and SR department said, “Today we have students who are in their third and fourth years, who have already started companies, so we allow them these time-offs. It’s a clear paradigm shift.”

As Dr. Ashwin mentioned that study period is the best to start any venture as it’s the time when one can try experiments and doesn’t have many responsibilities.
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