HYDERABAD: In a bid to improve the quality of technical education in the country, it is important to have a curriculum that meets the requirement of the industry, Prof Anil D Sahasrabudhe, chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), said at the Maulana Azad Urdu University on Friday. Sahasrabudhe was in the city to lay the foundation stone for the Urdu varsity’s new building for School of Computer Science and Information Technology.
Addressing students on the occasion, the chairman said that to ensure what is taught is industry-relevant, there is a need to update and upgrade syllabus at least every three or four years.
Emphasising that AICTE is not just a ‘regulator’ but also a ‘facilitator’ committed to improving the quality of technical education, Sahasrabudhe said, “While retaining 70 -80 per cent of AICTE syllabus, technical institutions must incorporate local requirements in the syllabus.
AICTE regulations are not gospel. Colleges should adopt and adapt syllabus. We are open to some amount of experimentation.” He added that four to six months of internship was made mandatory to improve employability. Prof Sahasrabudhe said that learning for teachers is a lifelong process and in order to improve the pedagogy, AICTE has designed a semester-long programme with eight modules.
Unless a teacher undergoes this certification, he/she cannot be hired to teach at any technical institution, and those already teaching too need to undergo the faculty development programme to get further promotions, he said.
PM Research fellowship now for all
Sahasrabudhe also confirmed that the Prime Minister Research Fellowship (PMRF), which in its introductory year was limited only to IIT graduates, has now been extended to meritorious students of NITs and other private colleges too. It may be mentioned here that this year only 135 of the 1,000 fellowship had found takers.
Prof Sahasrabudhe pointed out that since not many IIT graduates are interested in taking up M Tech and PhD in India despite a Centre-sponsored special fellowship offering `70,000 per month for the first two years, `75,000 per month for the third year and `80,000 per month in the fourth and fifth year of their programme, the fellowship is being extended to other meritorious students.