IISc Students ESE department mandates 50–80 weekly lab hours; students protest over health, privacy and surveillance, demand rollback and clearer rules.
IISc Students Raise Voice Against 50-Hour Work Rule
Students at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have raised strong objections after the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering introduced a new attendance policy requiring MTech and first-year PhD students to log 50 hours a week, while senior PhD scholars are expected to match advisors’ 70–80 hour schedules. The rule was communicated via an October 2 email from department chair Prof. Mayank Shrivastava and piloted from October 16, with full rollout planned from November 1.
The change replaces the current loose system of marking presence twice a day and will use RFID access cards and facial-recognition devices to track lab hours — a move students describe as importing “corporate culture” into academia. The IISc Students’ Council petition, submitted on October 14, said the mandatory 14–16 hour daily expectation could harm mental health, impede academic balance and raise suicide concerns; a council survey found overwhelming opposition among respondents.
Students also fear the pilot could expand institute-wide: a separate IISc tender for 7,000 access cards has fuelled worries about surveillance and privacy. Department officials framed the policy as a bid to improve accountability and safety after finding labs empty in the afternoons, but critics argue that research productivity should not be equated with time-card metrics.
