Mayank Tiwari By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H), will soon permit its B.Tech students to take a ‘leave of absence’ or sabbatical for up to one year to focus on their individual startups. “For the past few years, several students from B.Tech have been asking for long leaves to work exclusively on their startup ideas. As a result, the institute has formulated a procedure to make that possible,” said Professor BS Murty, Director of IIT, Hyderabad. He said, “The sabbatical will be granted to those students who come up with startup ideas that demand their undivided attention. Small or big, successful or not, we want students to try their best to come up with innovations.” “We will also encourage more students to go on sabbaticals to work on their startups. Students will be allowed to stay on the campus to use the IIT’s resources for research; they can also seek help from faculty. They can choose to work on their idea outside the campus if they wish to,” the director added.The sabbatical facility will be made available from the academic year 2020-21 onwards. “Students will be allowed to come back to the institute to resume their studies after a year. If their startup is successful, the university will permit them to return to the institute for up to a period of four years,” Professor Murthy said. Any B.Tech student from IIT-H can apply for the leave, provided they have an idea to work on. “Even if the idea doesn’t work out, they can rejoin the institute,” he said, adding, “We are encouraging all the students to take a sabbatical. We are expecting at least 25 per cent of the students to take the leave of absence to work on their desired project.”

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