The All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) is on a mission to introduce new systems and processes to improve technical education across the country.
โWe now have 10 new initiatives and 57 schemes aimed at improving technical education. The major changes are in training,โ R. Hariharan, Adviser, Approval Bureau at the AICTE, said.
โThe AICTE will mandate hands-on training for young graduates by making them serve as interns in different units,โ he said, adding, โThis rule will apply to every student in the 10,670 colleges in the country.โ
While addressing a workshop on new initiatives of the AICTE at the Gogte Institute of Technology in Belagavi, Hariharan said the body had a bad name earlier but it is trying to get over it with new initiatives.
โWe had a bad name earlier. We are trying to wipe that out and gain goodwill,โ he said, adding, โThe AICTE had become more responsive, and was accepting suggestions from individuals and institutions and constantly trying to correct mistakes.โ
From being a regulator to a facilitator of technical education, the AICTE will introduce a uniform curriculum for the whole country and bring in uniformity in examinations.
โA standing committee will regulate and streamline admissions,โ he said.
โColleges will be mandated to seek accreditation of at least 50% of courses taught by the national board of accreditation. Increased interaction with foreign universities will mean increased exchange of students. We recently sent 10 teams to South Korea, that included two from Karnataka. We will send five teams of girls to the Carlton University in Canada,โ Hariharan said.
As part of its new initiatives, the AICTE was working with 22 Union Ministries to help them solve problems by organising hackathons.
โThe body was working with 22 Union Ministries to help them solve problems by organising hackathons where students of various engineering colleges come up with solutions,โ Ramesh Unnikrishnan, director of the AICTEโs south western regional office, said.
He also said as per directions from the Prime Ministerโs Office, colleges were adopting villages under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana and developing them.
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