New Engineering colleges can offer only globally relevant courses – Times of India

Exceptions in place


The exceptions include considering state government proposals to start new Polytechnics in Conventional/Emerging/Multidisciplinary/Vocational areas including PPP mode; proposals from any industry with a minimum annual turnover of Rs 5000 crore (in preceding three years) registered as Trust/Society/Company established under Section 8 of the Company Act, 2013, and philanthropical organisations existing for more than 25 years and running other educational institutes with minimum enrolment of 10,000 students and NIRF ranking (if applicable) within 100 in the preceding year.

Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman, AICTE, says, “These exceptions confirm that only time-tested organisations can start a new Engineering institute, which would then already portray around 50% adherence to the requirement of maintaining the quality of education.”

Upgraded infrastructure

However, just meeting any of these three qualifiers is not enough to guarantee approval to set up a new institute, adds Sahasrabudhe. “Quality of infrastructure in the form of labs, faculty and buildings will be other defining factors for gaining approval,” he says. Since the online application process is ongoing, we will be able to define the number of proposals only by the end of this month. This will be followed by a scrutiny of the applicants before we reach any final decision, he adds.

In the general course of things, the opening and closure of Engineering institutes take place all year long. “Even after getting approval from AICTE, new institutes have to ascertain that at least 60% of their programmes get accreditations for two batches (six years) after their initiation. Similarly, once they are applicable to participate in the NIRF rankings, they should be able to crack the top 100 ranking within a stipulated period,” says the chairman.

Need for new institutes

Mayank Shrivastava, associate professor, Department of Electronics Systems Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), says, “Any new Engineering institute needs to be one of international standard. The education imparted at any new institute should focus on developing an Engineering bend of mind that enables students to become creators rather than daily lab operators. Further, with NEP 2020 focussing on a multidisciplinary approach to Engineering education, AICTE should encourage flexible curriculum in any new institutes.”

Towards this end, funds are needed to build quality infrastructure. Further, the parent organisation cannot look at generating profits within the first few years of setting up an institute as focus needs to be on quality of education rather than number of students. “With this in mind, the exceptions specified by AICTE seem to be spot on,” he says.