For most students at BITS Pilani, the Senate exists as a vague, almost mysterious body, mentioned in passing but rarely explained. Yet this institution quietly shapes much of the academic campus life. The Senate sets policies, approves curriculum changes, and oversees academic regulations that affect every BITSian, even if most of us never step inside a Senate meeting.

To understand its inner workings, the English Press Club sat down with the newly appointed Student Senator, Adithya Chittem. At the time of the interview, he was only six days into the role and offered insight into the body’s functioning, the role of a Student Senator, and the initiatives currently on the table.

At its core, the Senate is the highest academic and administrative authority of the institute, composed of senior faculty, directors, student representatives, and presided over by the Vice-Chancellor. Adithya explained that the body had far-reaching responsibilities: approving academic policies, revising curricula, ratifying partnerships with other universities, and deliberating on any institutional regulation that touches academics. He cited as an example the creation of “2+2” and “3+2” MBA programs, which allow students to complete part of their degree at BITS and the remainder at another institution. He noted that such initiatives underwent long-term discussion in the Senate before becoming a reality.

He revealed that each campus had three Student Senators, each representing one section of the student body — undergraduates, postgraduates, and PhD scholars. He noted that these Senators acted as a bridge between the students and the academic leadership. Talking about the selection process, Adithya explained that when a Senator’s term ended, a call for applications was sent out to the relevant batch. He recalled that applicants were required to submit a Google Form outlining their concerns, priorities, and potential initiatives. He continued that this was usually followed by group discussions, tasks, and finally an interview, with a panel that included the outgoing representatives, student leaders, and Election Commission members. He added that following this process and a vote, two names were forwarded to the administration for the final selection. While the Senator could not confirm the final decision-makers, he said that the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar were typically informed.

When asked about the workings of the Senate, Adithya explained that any member of the Senate, faculty or student could draft a policy proposal. He elucidated that once vetted by the Registrar, the proposal was placed on the agenda for the next Senate meeting and was approved if no one raised any objections. He detailed that if there were comments, the proposal would be revised and then considered at the next meeting.

He revealed that the Senate had approved allocating 10% of course grades to class participation in its last meeting, to be implemented at the Instructor-in-charge’s discretion. When asked about the speculation regarding the mandatory 50% attendance policy, the Senator urged the students to rely only on official announcements. He added that the handouts had been temporarily taken down in lieu of misinterpretation of the policy changes in the last Senate meeting, and that they would be updated soon per the new academic policy.

He noted that curriculum reforms had reduced first-year workloads by merging courses and adding non-graded courses like Social Conduct. He commented that there were plans to extend such reforms to later years as well. He said there were ongoing discussions about allowing credits to be earned via online platforms such as Coursera, and introducing a system for dual degree students, where their credits and grades would be counted twice for a course common to their BE and MSc degrees, to ease their heavy credit loads. He added that the Senate was exploring ways to normalise CGPAs across campuses to reduce inequity in PS allocations. Adithya noted that while complete standardisation of grading was unlikely (given the differences between course structures), oversight mechanisms already exist.

Given the limited awareness of the Senate’s existence among students, the Senator said that he planned to work closely with the SU and other bodies like SAC to gather feedback and communicate updates. He planned to send out multiple feedback forms, rather than a single one, at the start of the semester. When asked about recent campus protests, the Senator supported peaceful protests as a valid way to express student concerns, while condemning any harm to individuals during such events. ‘I don’t think there is any harm in people voicing their concerns, being loud about things which are troubling them. I think that’s fair,’ he stated.

In closing, the Senator encouraged students to engage more actively with academic governance by reaching out to him or the SU, assuring them that their ideas would reach the right authorities. He emphasised that the Senate aims to act in the students’ best interests, and that Student Senators are committed to representing those interests.