HYDERABAD: It has been three years since a pan-India NEET-like single common entrance examination for undergraduate engineering courses was proposed by the AICTE. But on Wednesday, its chairman Dr Anil D Sahasrabudhe said that the plan has been temporarily put in abeyance owing to opposition from some States.
However, speaking at an industry-institute interaction event organised by ICT Academy, on the theme ‘Fostering India for Industry 4.0’, he said that a single entrance exam is the future of engineering.
“We don’t want students to write multiple examinations, one for IIT, one for NIT and one for State engineering colleges and several other for different private colleges. Parents and students are crushed both in terms of money and energy as they have to attend each exam in different centres,” said Sahasrabudhe.
Internship onus
Highlighting other reforms taken by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), its chairman said that making internship mandatory for engineering students was a way to ensure students are industry ready. And to facilitate this he said AICTE has inked MoUs with several medium and small-scale industries to provide internship.
“But eventually, it is the individual college that has to take the responsibility to provide internship to its students. Engage with industry and bring your friends and alumni to offer internships to students,” he said. While denying that B.Tech graduates are unemployable, he said they are in fact underemployed and to correct this AICTE has been striving to create industry-ready students. “From interaction with industry, we moved to collaboration and now its time to enter into a partnership. All institutions should have a partnership with an industry so that they can solve the problems together and reap benefits together”.
Open book exam on cards
Revision of curriculum to make it relevant to industry requirements and current times is another positive step AICTE has taken, he said. He reiterated that institutions are free to tweak the model curriculum as per their local requirements.
Reforming examination to move away from rote learning is now the goal of AICTE. In this regard, open book examination is one such move it is mulling, he said.
The chairman also urged higher education institutions to apply for accreditation to ensure that when Indian students go abroad they are given the same opportunities that the students there get.
He said that currently only 15 per cent of institutions in the country are accredited by National Board of Accreditation.
“It is a challenge we are facing. If colleges don’t apply for this then soon like Kuwait which is throwing out engineers who are not from accredited colleges, other countries will also start doing it. IT is a warning sign,” he said.