With a view to enhancing the quality of technical education, the State government is planning to create faculty training colleges at an outlay of Rs 105 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan period.
“The Plan period will explore setting up of Faculty Training Colleges for the purpose of training and orienting the young faculty in technology-based teaching-learning methods,” reads the Tamil Nadu State 12th Five Year plan document.
One Faculty Training College for every four zones (Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchy and Tirunelveli) will be set up for training and orientation of newly-recruited in education pedagogies, technology-based teaching, learning methodologies. Apart from this, a Central College could be set up in Chennai, said a source.
The government plans to set faculty quality standards with the help of an expert body and selection process will require a written test followed by interviews to assess teaching, research aptitude and communication skills.
The Faculty Monitoring Committee under the Director of Technical Education will check for malpractices in the system of recruitment of the principal and faculty, followed to obtain AICTE recognition and university affiliation.
The government proposes to launch a special drive for PhD registration during the Twelfth Plan to produce additional 5,000 PhDs in engineering disciplines.
It is also proposed to introduce a minimum of two papers in pedagogy in PG level courses.
The government plans to hold special training and counselling sessions for approximately 50-60 percent students in Engineering Colleges who are slow learners.
The training session will involve small study teams consisting of six slow learners led by one fast learner and monitored by a faculty in-charge.
The State government is also planning to set up counselling centres with trained teachers in engineering colleges. “College dropout rates and suicide tendency among students are on the increase in engineering colleges due to various reasons. A sum of Rs 10 crore has been proposed for establishing counselling centres in colleges,” says the Plan document.