AICTE: Changes to be brought in engineering syllabi to meet industry requirements

In order to fulfill the contemporary industry requirements, AICTE has set up a committee of subject experts which will help revise the existing engineering syllabi. The committee will review the existing syllabi, and suggest curricula changes at engineering and technical institutes.

In order to fulfill the contemporary industry requirements, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has set up a committee of subject experts which will help formulate and revise the existing engineering syllabi in India. The committee will review the existing syllabi, and suggest curricula changes at engineering and technical institutes.

As per an HT report, this move is aimed at addressing concerns about the falling employability of engineers.

Meeting the industry needs

Regulations have been issued by the regulatory body, which recently approved a single entrance examination for engineering colleges (National Entrance Exam or NEEM). This made it mandatory for the affiliated technical universities to revise their syllabi annually in consultation with industry players. HRD minister Prakash Javadekar had also asked engineering institutes to revise their curricula with industry requirements in mind.

Committee set to revise the syllabus

As it is, the AICTE has a model curriculum that is used by affiliated universities as a base for preparing their own syllabi. For the first time in nine years, a committee of experts will revise it and the suggestions made in this regard will be submitted after the summer vacation – in time for the next academic session. The panel comprises sub-groups of various subject experts, each headed by an IIT professor.

Former IIT-Roorkee director Pradipta Banerji welcomed the council’s move to revise the engineering syllabi. “The crucial part is – it will be done in consultation with the industry. Most engineers remain unemployed because their skills are not in sync with industry requirements,” he said.

“The fields of engineering and technology undergo changes every day, and we need to keep up with their requirements. Students need to have skills required by the industry. Some of the institutes are still teaching decades-old syllabi and using obsolete teaching tools,” said a senior official from the human resource development (HRD) ministry.

“There has to be a constant dialogue between educational institutes and the industry. Each institution, while applying for approval, will have to mandatorily certify the completion of this process. If they fail to do so, action will be taken against them,” he added.

Source:  http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/engineering/1/910948.html