Pull up your socks! Bengaluru college degrees to be put under stricter scrutiny

BENGALURU: A number of recent industry surveys on the employability of Indian management and engineering graduates have painted a dismal picture. A majority of graduates are not employable.
At a conclave for city colleges held recently, institutions expressed hope that the scene would change once accreditation from the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) for courses would be made mandatory. The NBA is a body under the All India Council for Technical Education that accredits courses in technical institutions.  So far, only talks of making NBA accreditation mandatory have happened, but changes are expected soon.

faculty say...
Dhamendra Rao Jhadav, management faculty, Dayanand Sagar Institution, says “The NBA is inching towards this goal. For example, there are several parameters in the NBA accreditation. While these parameters have been in place for very long, there has been a shift in the weightage given to them. There is big stress on the outcome of courses rather than concentrating on other parameters,” he says. Rao also added that by concentrating on outcomes, there is a greater chance for improving the employability of students.

As of now, accreditation from the NBA or NAAC is a must when an institution wants to increase the size of its intake. “With the NBA accreditation being made mandatory, institutions will either prevail or perish. There has been a mushrooming of colleges offering many degrees. The new directive can curb this phenomenon as well,” adds Rao.   

Dr R AKhila Udupa, professor and head, academics, Seshadripuram Institute of Management Studies, points out, “The biggest stress is on improving the outcomes so that the quality of students coming out of institutions improve. I think it is a very healthy move,” he says.

Dr K N Subramany, principal, R V College of Engineering, was one of the regional coordinators for conducting training in outcome-based programmes. According to him, so far, the focus has been on “input rather than output,” which lies at the centre of the employability problem. “Although there is no official word on when accreditation will be made mandatory, it will definitely improve the situation,” he says.