Guidelines for M.Tech(IT) & M.Tech-PhD(IT)  Specialization NEP-2020 Based PG Curriculum 2023-24

This document supersedes all prior documents in this regard

1. The Department of Information Technology (IT) offers 7 Specializations as shown in Table 2.
2. Students are selected through CCMT (CENTRALIZED COUNSELLING FOR M.TECH. / M.ARCH. / M.PLAN. ADMISSIONS: https://ccmt.nic.in/WebInfo21/Page/Page?PageId=1&LangId=P

Table 1.

3. Apart from CCMT selection the Department of IT takes admission of limited students through Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA): DASA PG 2021
4. The IT Department is offering the following specializations in each group:

Table 2.

Every student will be allocated a specialization after the completion of the first semester. For example, if a student opts for Machine Learning, Robotics and Human Computer Interaction Group, he/she will get a chance to opt for

Machine Learning and Intelligent Systems (MLIS)             or

Robotics and Machine Intelligence (RMI)         or

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

The student may get any of the three specializations mentioned above based on his/her performance (GPA points) in the first semester. Please note that every specialization has an equal number of seats.

For M.Tech.-Ph.D. Programme; 5+4+4 =13 seats (Table 2) have been kept reserved. This is in tune with the spirit of NEP 2020. It is envisaged with a target towards research leading to a PhD programme with a minimum duration of 04 years, and with a possible exit for the award of MTech degree and/or PG Diploma in case of exigency.

The credits for all courses are given in LTP format. L stands for Lecture, T for Tutorial, P for Practice/Practical. L=3 signifies 3 hours of Lectures per week, T=1 signifies 1 hour of Tutorial per week, and P=1 corresponds to 2 hours Practice/Practical per week.  The Practice/Practical component of the course could also be a Term paper or Term Paper along with the lab.

Please refer to the M.Tech. and Ph.D. Ordinance for the other details of the M. Tech. and Ph.D. programmes that is available at the following link: https://aaa.iiita.ac.in/   

1. First semester subjects for all the candidates admitted in M.Tech. (IT) Group shall be common within the Group.  
2. Seat Allocation

1. Every student will be allocated a specialization from within the Group based on his/her choice and performance in the 1st Semester.
2. After the completion of the first semester, the students will be asked to select the specializations within the Group, offered by the Department in that academic session as per the procedures laid down by the Department of IT.
3. The following procedure will be followed for allocation of the specializations

1. The students will be asked to submit their preferences for all the specializations within the group. It will be mandatory for the students to fill all the preferences relevant to the Group. Specializations from other groups will not be allowed.
2. The department will allocate the specializations to the students in accordance with

1. Students’ preferences
2. The 1st semester’s SGPI.
3. Total number of the seats in each specialization will be the same within the group.

3. The Department reserves the right to offer or not a particular specialization. It is possible that all specializations given in Table 2 may not run. Minimum number of seats for a specialization to run shall be decided by the Department at the end of the first semester. The specializations that will be offered shall be announced before the commencement of the 2nd Semester.
4. It is expected that the student will work on M.Tech. Project/Thesis in tune with the specialization assigned to him/her. So, the selection of project Mentor(s)/Supervisor(s) has to be made before the commencement of the second semester.
5. Students will have to register their Project Mentor/Supervisor, for the 2nd Semester Project, as soon as their specialization is decided. The department will ensure a procedure for the number of students to be Supervised by a Faculty. In normal circumstances, the Project Mentor/Supervisor will not be changed for the 3rd and 4th semester Thesis work. It shall be the endeavor to see the three semester Projects/Thesis to be connected, which will enable the students to go deep into the specialization and at the end students will be able to have a good research outcome in the form of publication/ patent out of their M.Tech. Thesis work.  
6. Under extraordinary circumstances the change of supervisor will be with the approval of the DPGC.

The Institute reserves the right to take appropriate decisions in regard to the implementation of the “Guidelines for choosing M. Tech (IT) Specialization 2023-24”, which shall be binding to all concerned.

MTech-PhD program

Salient features

1. Degree: MTech-PhD degree shall be given upon successful completion of the programme, when the student defends his Ph.D. Thesis. Provisional MTech degree shall be given after submission of the PhD thesis.
2. Seats: The total number of M.Tech.-Ph.D. Seats (5+4+4=13) (Table-2) is taken from the present sanctioned MTech programme seats such that the overall seat matrix will remain unchanged.  
3. Duration: The minimum duration of the program will be 4 years, including the M.Tech portion.
4. Scholarship: Scholarship will be paid for a maximum period of 05 years. Scholarship will be paid only to those students who complete the M.Tech-PhD programme.

• First year MTech Scholarship
• Second and Third year Ph.D.’s Junior Research Fellowship (JRF)
• Fourth year Senior Research Fellowship (SRF). The student will move SRF only after only after an assessment of his research work by the prescribed committee defined for the purpose (Doctoral Committee of the student which should include an external examiner). If the work by the student is not to the marks and unsatisfactory, the assessment committee may recommend the continuation of JRF or terminate the Fellowship.
• Financial support may further be extended to a maximum of 1 year. This will depend on the (i) strict assessment of the students research performance, with a final approval of the Chairman Senate.

5. Exit Options: The exit with MTech will be considered only after completion of the first 2+ years. This exit shall not be a voluntary exit and will happen only if a student has outstanding dropped courses at the beginning of the third semester. In such cases, the student will be required to complete the requirements of MTech programmes (credits and thesis). The exit with PG Diploma will be considered only after 1+ year upon completion of at least 32 credits. Such students would be considered for lateral admission to complete an MTech degree. However, they will not be considered for the PhD program, nor will they be paid any fellowship to complete the remaining credits required for their exit degree of M.Tech/ PG Diploma.

6.        Course Fee: M.Tech-PhD students will pay fees like the regular M.Tech Students, an M.Tech Fee for the 1st 4 Semesters. From the 5th Semester They will pay the fees on par with the regular PhD students. The students who have been given an exit option will pay the regular M.Tech Fees for the semester.

7.         Supervisor: To be fixed before the commencement of the 2nd semester in accordance with the provisions of the PhD ordinance.

8.        Doctoral Committee: To be constituted before the commencement of the 2nd semester in accordance with the provisions of the PhD ordinance.

Justification:  Benefits of the MTech-PhD programme:

1. Early start of research work and publication – Students will embrace the research and innovation culture of the institute. He/she will start contributing towards research activity from start and well in advance
2. Programme in line to respect the spirit of NEP – To encourage research culture, students will be motivated to join the MTech-PhD program. However, PG diploma and M.Tech. will be given an exit option as per NEP 2020 will be applicable. Details of the credit table with Exit Scheme are tabulated below.
3. From past experience, the M.Tech. - Ph.D. programme has produced extremely good Ph.D. research for the institute.

M.Tech (IT) Course Structure with Different Specializations

M.Tech Credit Distribution

Table 4.

The M.Tech students may also take the additional credits offered to the M.Tech-PhD students as an Add-On Course. If they decide after 2 Semesters to move into the M.Tech-PhD Programme, depending on their performance, they will be allowed to do so.

M.Tech-IT Credit Distribution

MTech-IT Course Credit Distribution

M.Tech-Ph.D, Credit Distribution

MTech-PhD Credit Distribution

Machine Learning, Robotics and Human Computer Interaction Group.

In the proposed Curriculum, the 1st Semester courses for the Machine Learning, Robotics and Human Computer Interaction Group is Common for

• Machine Learning and Intelligent Systems (MLIS)           
• Robotics and Machine Intelligence (RMI)          
• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

 Table 5:     First Semester

Annexure-1.1

M. Tech. (IT) with Specialization in

Machine Learning and Intelligent Systems  (MLIS)

The Laboratory/ Centers offering the Specialization:

Machine Learning & Optimization Lab (MLO Lab), Computer Vision & Biometrics Lab (CVB Lab), Speech Image and Language Processing Lab (SILP Lab).

Some other labs, also, from the Department.

Note: This course has been running successfully at IIITA since 2007. Strong group of faculty members exist in the department.

Objective:

MLIS, M.Tech. Program provides the foundation and advanced skills in the principles and technologies that underlie, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, probabilistic models and Convex & Non convex optimization. Students can pursue advanced research topics in areas such as cognition, vision, natural language processing and representation Learning.

(Please Note 1st Sem. common for all M.Tech.(IT) Specializations within the Group: Table 5. )  Table 6:     Second Semester

Exit: After successful completion of one year (first two semesters), students may get PG Diploma. They need to earn 6 credits additional, in summer, before exit.

M.Tech-Ph.D : After the end of II Semester the M.Tech-PhD student moves into the Ph.D Section of the Degree and will be henceforth governed by the Ph.D ordinance. Please note that there is a Summer Semester between II and III Semester. (Please refer to Annexure-4)  

Table 7:     Third Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 8:     Fourth Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 9.: List of Electives:

Please Note: x could be 1 or 2 dependinding in which semester it is offered. If offered in the II Semester x=1. If offered in the III Semester x=2.

Annexure-1.2

M. Tech. (IT) with Specialization in

Robotics and Machine Intelligence (RMI)

The Laboratory/ Centers offering the Specialization: Robotics and Machine Intelligence Lab, Analytics and Application Lab.

Motivation:

During the two years Robotics and Machine Intelligence program, we are committed to provide a stimulating environment to the deserving candidates so that they can showcase their talents and build up an illustrious career in this niche area of robotics.

(Please Note 1st Sem. common for all M.Tech.(IT) Specializations within the Group:  Table 5. )

Table 10:     Second Semester

Exit: After successful completion of one year (first two semesters), students may get PG Diploma. They need to earn 6 credits additional, in summer, before exit.

M.Tech-Ph.D : After the end of II Semester the M.Tech-PhD student moves into the Ph.D Section of the Degree and will be henceforth governed by the Ph.D ordinance. Please note that there is a Summer Semester between II and III Semester. (Please refer to Annexure-4)

Table 11:     Third Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 12:     Fourth Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 13.:         List of Electives: 

Please Note: x could be 1 or 2 dependinding in which semester it is offered. If offered in the II Semester x=1. If offered in the III Semester x=2..

Annexure-1.3

M. Tech. (IT) with Specialization in

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

The Laboratory/ Centers offer the Specialization: Interactive Technologies and Multimedia Research (ITMR) Lab, Speech Image and Language Processing (SILP) Lab, Software Engineering Research Lab, Analytics & Application Lab, Computer Vision and Biometrics Lab.

Motivation        

• Research Intensive & Industry Oriented M.Tech. program.
• HCI is the study of designing computers and machines so that they best serve their users (i.e. humans). HCI is closely related to the field of User Experience (UX) design.
• The MTech IT (HCI) course aims to provide the practical skills and theoretical understandings needed to become leaders in the design, implementation and evaluation of the next generation of human-computer or human-machine interfaces.
• HCI students learn how to identify areas of improvement and then create better services and products. In today's highly competitive digital markets, HCI design can be the difference between success and failure.

(Please Note 1st Sem. common for all M.Tech.(IT) Specializations within the Group: Table 5. )

 Table 14.:         Second Semester

Exit: After successful completion of one year (first two semesters), students may get PG Diploma. They need to earn 6 credits additional, in summer, before exit.

M.Tech-Ph.D : After the end of II Semester the M.Tech-PhD student moves into the Ph.D Section of the Degree and will be henceforth governed by the Ph.D ordinance. Please note that there is a Summer Semester between II and III Semester. (Please refer to Annexure-4)

Table 15:     Third Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 16:     Fourth Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 17.:         List of Electives: 

Please Note: x could be 1 or 2 dependinding in which semester it is offered. If offered in the II Semester x=1. If offered in the III Semester x=2.

2. Software and Data Engineering Group

In the proposed Curriculum, the 1st Semester courses for the Software and Data Engineering Group is Common for

• Software Engineering
• Data Engineering   

 Table 18.:         First Semester

Annexure-2.1

M. Tech. (IT) with Specialization in

Software Engineering (SE)

The Laboratory/ Centers offering the Specialization: Software Engineering Research Lab (SER Lab), Big Data Analytics Lab, Analytics and Application Lab.

• Research Intensive & Industry Oriented M.Tech. program(s)
• Strong group of faculty members and researchers with well-equipped research labs.  
• Suitable to get successful professional careers in industry, government and academia.
• Helpful to take up entrepreneurship for the growth of the economy and to generate employment.
• Develop ability to analyze and evaluate problems and draw on the theoretical and technical knowledge to develop solutions and systems
• To establish awareness on the current research in software development, the analytical skills and research techniques for their critical and independent evaluation and their application to new problems.

(Please Note 1st Sem. common for all M.Tech.(IT) Specializations within the Group: Table 18. )

Table 19.:         Second Semester

Exit: After successful completion of one year (first two semesters), students may get PG Diploma. They need to earn 6 credits additional, in summer, before exit.

M.Tech-Ph.D : After the end of II Semester the M.Tech-PhD student moves into the Ph.D Section of the Degree and will be henceforth governed by the Ph.D ordinance. Please note that there is a Summer Semester between II and III Semester. (Please refer to Annexure-4)

Table 20:     Third Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 21:     Fourth Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 22.:         List of Electives: 

Please Note: x could be 1 or 2 dependinding in which semester it is offered. If offered in the II Semester x=1. If offered in the III Semester x=2.

Annexure-2.2

M. Tech. (IT) with Specialization in

Data Engineering (DE)         

The Laboratory/ Centers offering the Specialization: Data Analytics Lab (DAL), Big Data Analytics Lab(BDAL), Analytics and Application Lab(AAL)

Note: Faculties from all other labs of IIITA are also associated. 

Motivation        

• Research Intensive & Industry Oriented M.Tech. program.
• Strong group of faculty members exist in the department.  
• Demanded by students and the IT industry.
• Importance of Data analytics at present. It is one of the current trends in the academia & industry.
• This course consists of varied subjects covering various aspects of Data storage, preprocessing, analytics and related topics which prepares students for research and Industry as well.
• Many Ph.D thesis going on in this area by current students. M.tech students may be benefitted also.

Course Structure

(Please Note 1st Sem. common for all M.Tech.(IT) Specializations within the Group: Table 18. )

Table 23.:         Second Semester

Exit: After successful completion of one year (first two semesters), students may get PG Diploma. They need to earn 6 credits additional, in summer, before exit.

M.Tech-Ph.D : After the end of II Semester the M.Tech-PhD student moves into the Ph.D Section of the Degree and will be henceforth governed by the Ph.D ordinance. Please note that there is a Summer Semester between II and III Semester. (Please refer to Annexure-4).

Table 24:     Third Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 25:     Fourth Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 26.:         List of Electives: 

Please Note: x could be 1 or 2 dependinding in which semester it is offered. If offered in the II Semester x=1. If offered in the III Semester x=2.

3.    Network and Security Group

In the proposed Curriculum, the 1st Semester courses for the Network and Security Group is Common for

• Wireless Communication and Computing (WCC).
• Cyber Laws and Information Security (CLIS).

 Table 25.:         First Semester

Annexure-3.1

M. Tech. (IT) with Specialization in

Wireless Communication and Computing (WCC)

The Laboratory/ Centers offering the Specialization: Center of Research and Development for IoT Lab, Systems Lab, Wireless sensor lab.

Motivation: Wireless Communication and Computing is one of the oldest specializations in IIIT Allahabad. The specialization is offered with the support of many research and academic enthusiastic faculties of the institute. The courses in this specialization are designed to equip students with theoretical and practical knowledge of Wireless Communication, Wireless and Mobile Networks, IoT, and their applications. The courses are supported by state-of-the-art laboratory infrastructure which includes multiple sensor motes, sensors, IoT kits, and software to simulate various aspects of wireless communication. The main focus of this specialization is to make students Industry and research-ready in the domain of Wireless Communication and Computing.

(Please Note 1st Sem. common for all M.Tech.(IT) Specializations within the Group: Table 25. )

Table 26.:         Second Semester

Exit: After successful completion of one year (first two semesters), students may get PG Diploma. They need to earn 6 credits additional, in summer, before exit.

M.Tech-Ph.D : After the end of II Semester the M.Tech-PhD student moves into the Ph.D Section of the Degree and will be henceforth governed by the Ph.D ordinance. Please note that there is a Summer Semester between II and III Semester. (Please refer to Annexure-4)

Table 27:     Third Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 28:     Fourth Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 29.:         List of Electives: 

Please Note: x could be 1 or 2 dependinding in which semester it is offered. If offered in the II Semester x=1. If offered in the III Semester x=2

Annexure-3.2

M. Tech. (IT) with specialization in

Cyber Laws and Information Security (CLIS)

The Laboratory/ Centers offering the Specialization: Network Security and Cryptography (NSC) Lab

Motivation        

• The needs of cyber security professionals are increasing exponentially to counter the various cyber-attacks in the world.
• Research, Practical and Industry oriented teaching of the courses by our strong Faculty group.
• This course consists of varied subjects covering various aspects of Cyber laws and Information Security related topics which are essential to create a successful cyber security workforce for organizations.
• On demand and competitive Research oriented thesis by our students.
• Laboratories are made with necessary infrastructure.

(Please Note 1st Sem. common for all M.Tech.(IT) Specializations within the Group: Table 25. )

Table 30.:         Second Semester

Exit: After successful completion of one year (first two semesters), students may get PG Diploma. They need to earn 6 credits additional, in summer, before exit.

M.Tech-Ph.D : After the end of II Semester the M.Tech-PhD student moves into the Ph.D Section of the Degree and will be henceforth governed by the Ph.D ordinance. Please note that there is a Summer Semester between II and III Semester. (Please refer to Annexure-4)

Table 31:     Third Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 32:     Fourth Semester (for M.Tech)

Table 33.:         List of Electives: 

Please Note: x could be 1 or 2 depending in which semester it is offered. If offered in the II Semester x=1. If offered in the III Semester x=2.

Annexure-4

M. Tech.- Ph.D. (IT) the PhD Programme

as per Ph.D Ordinance

After the end of II Semester the M.Tech-PhD student moves into the Ph.D Section of the Degree and will be henceforth governed by the Ph.D ordinance. Please note the Summer Semester between II and III Semester.

Table 34:     Summer  Semester  (for M.Tech-PhD)

IV Sem: Prerequisite: Successful completion of Registration Colloquium of Summer Semester and all course credits of Semester I & II).

Table 35.:         Third Semester    (for M.Tech-PhD)