AICTE to equip Engineering and Architecture students with green skills – Times of India

The AICTE plans to train 1 lakh Architecture and Engineering students on green concepts to have a large pool of trained professionals in green building infrastructure. The technical regulator has partnered with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). AICTE will develop the course curricula in consultation with IGBC, which has expertise in this field. The initiative will encourage all the Civil and Architectural Engineering students will have to learn skills to develop green cities. Imparting green skills aligns with trans-disciplinary education that is mentioned in NEP 2020.

Speaking to Education Times, Buddha Chandrasekhar, chief coordinating officer, AICTE, Ministry of Education, says, “Architectural and Civil Engineering students would contribute their bit to maintain the environmental equilibrium through the green skills they develop over some time. For instance, while developing smart cities, the Civil and Architectural Engineering students will be required to work on all those factors, which add to the green culture in developing new cities like buildings with less concrete walls, use of more glasses and water harvesting which makes them help consume less water, become more energy-efficient, generate less waste and provide healthier spaces. These are the advantages of green buildings in comparison to conventional buildings. Hence while making the design plan of such buildings, students would need to know these emerging aspects.”

“For instance, recently Delhi Airport has become the first airport in the country to entirely run on renewable energy. The same changes should also be implemented while developing hospitals as our existing hospitals are not environment friendly. We are working closely with IGBC to develop the course curricula that the students would be taught as part of this green skilling and we would also seek their expertise to create the content for the green building concepts,” informs Chandrasekhar.
Sanjay Chitnis, dean, School of Computer Science and Engineering, RV University, Bengaluru, says, “India is lagging in technologies for Circular Economy (maximum utilisation of resources) and meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the UN. We have integrated the aspects of sustainability and circular economy in every relevant course to ensure that students learn how to design products that are in harmony with nature.”

Amit Hajela, director, Amity School of Architecture & Planning, says, “It is essential that we address the issue of Sustainable Development comprehensively wherein education at the elementary and the higher level will be instrumental in achieving the targets of SDG. SDG 4 is directly linked to the education sector. Adopting green skills in higher education will help sensitise the communities regarding their responsibility towards their respective countries and the Earth as a whole. The prerequisite to achieving the SDGs is to create an enabling mechanism which is holistic in terms of teaching-learning processes, application and innovation. Similar initiatives of CII-IGBC have been adopted through collaborative efforts of Schools of Architecture wherein IGBC student chapters have been established.”