improving the quality of technical education

With a view to improving the quality of technical education so as to increase employability of the students, the following action plan has been approved by the AICTE:

1. Planning: Long-term Perspective Plans will be prepared for technical education at State level, so that quality issues being faced may be addressed in a focused and planned way in consultation with the concerned State Governments.  This will be a guiding document while approving new institutions by AICTE.
2. Selection:  The students for the technical courses shall be selected based on a standardized examination.
3. Induction training: Every student, on admission, shall be put through a mandatory Induction training to reinforce the fundamental concepts and the required language skills required for the technical education. The model curriculum and the periodicity of this induction training will be separately notified by the AICTE.
4. Revision of curriculum:  Every affiliating Technical University shall constitute subject-wise industry consultation committee (ICC) with the mandate of examining the existing curriculum and for making suitable changes in the curriculum every year. This process shall be completed in the month of December each year for the courses to be offered in the coming Academic year. Each institution, while applying for approval, shall certify completion of this process, which will be mandatory.  

5. Mandatory internships: Every student in technical institution shall do three internships each spanning 4 to 8 weeks before completion of the under-graduation. The responsibility will be on the institution for helping the students in finding suitable industry or organisation for the internship.
6. Industry readiness: All students passing out of the undergraduate courses shall be imparted technical and soft skills required for working in the industry encompassing – managerial skills, entrepreneurial skills, leadership skills, communication skills, team-working skills and technical skills. 
7. Promoting innovation/start-ups: There shall be efforts at every level for promoting innovation and creativity in the students. The innovation drives like Hackathon shall be promoted, so that innovative ideas would emerge that can be incubated in the start-up centres.
8. Exam reforms: The final exams being conducted by the institutions shall test the understanding of the concepts and the skill – rather than the subject knowledge. A model exam format would be prepared and shared with the institutions and the technical universities for suitable adoption. This aspect would be reviewed at the time of approval.  
9. Training of teachers: Every teacher in each of the technical education disciplines shall mandatorily undergo an annual refresher course delivered through SWAYAM portal, encapsulating all the major advances in the field of their study. Online courses would also be prepared and delivered through the SWAYAM platform for improving the pedagogical techniques of the teachers. The participation in the courses by at least 50% of the faculty would be a mandatory condition for approval of the institution. Similarly, there should be leadership training to the heads of the institutions once in 2 years. These trainings would also be hosted through the SWAYAM platform.
10. Mandatory accreditation: At least half of all the programmes in the technical institutions shall be accredited through the NBA before 2022. Unless there is credible progress each year, the approval of the institutions can be refused. In order to assist the institutions in meeting the mandatory requirements for applying for accreditation, a separate mechanism will be put in place.

Further, AICTE is implementing schemes namely National Employment Enhancement Mission (NEEM) and Employability Enhancement Training Program (EETP) to enhance the employability of the students. In addition, AICTE has also partnered with Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Govt of India, Internshala, NETiit and LinkedIn to provide internship opportunities and industry exposure to students for aligning their technical knowhow with industry requirements.

There is no provision in AICTE Act, 1987 for closing down of engineering colleges by the Government. However, the colleges willing to close down can apply on the online portal of AICTE.