CHENNAI: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will be introducing a 21-day induction programme for new students at select 150 autonomous institutions at the beginning of the academic year in August.
This induction programme will help freshers coming from different socio-economic groups and encourage them to look beyond their textbooks, grades and placements. The program will also expose students to physical activity, arts and social issues.
“Based on the observations, it will be tweaked and soon become a standard norm for all engineering colleges in the country,” said AICTE chairman Anil D Sahasrabudhe, who was the chief guest at the 18th graduation day of Sairam Engineering College on Saturday.
“Students fresh out of school will be able to interact with their peers, debate and learn to exist in a pluralistic society and not just run after money and jobs at the end of their course,” he said.
Teachers, who will be mentors to students during the induction will undergo a five-day workshop before the beginning of the new academic year to guide and deliberate interactions between students during the program.
Sahasrabudhe lauded the college for its consistent academic excellence. He said students should develop a social consciousness and be sensitive to the world around them. He said that mental conditioning was needed for taking the leap from startup to a mainstay.
Pointing out that startups were exempted from income tax for the first three years, he urged students to become employers. “The country needs employers not employees.”
The college principal, C V Jayakumar, in his annual report claimed that Sairam Engineering College had made history by becoming the first college to secure more than 200 university ranks.
In his presidential address, Sai Prakash Leo Muthu, CEO of Sairam group of institutions, said there was a constant need to innovate even in teaching methods.
The college awarded 1,344 graduands degrees on its 18th graduation day.