AICTE Chairman laments falling standards in engineering colleges

Most engineering institutes fail to offer quality education and produce efficient engineers, Anil D. Sahashrabudhe, the AICTE chairman, said on 2016-12-24.

The reason: these institutes do not follow the basic norms on student- teacher ratio and infrastructure, he said.

Of the around 3,200 engineering institutes in the country, nearly 80 per cent are private, he said. "This is one of the reasons for the decline in the overall standard of engineering education," Sahashrabudhe said at the 61st annual convocation of Jadavpur University, where he was the chief guest.

"There are definitely some very good institutes that maintain high academic standards. But barring these exceptions, most fail to produce good engineers as they don't comply with AICTE norms." The AICTE is the apex body that regulates engineering education in the country.

Its approval is must to set up an engineering institute or introduce new courses or increase student intake in a particular course.

Asked if there was any flaw in the AICTE's monitoring system that could be responsible for the falling standards, Sahashrabudhe said: " It is difficult to maintain a close watch on each and every institution. The AICTE gives its clearance based on a rigorous screening process." During the initial screening, institutes often show all requirements have been met.
In some cases they promise to fulfill gaps, if any, he said. "But most do not do so once the permission is given." The AICTE will inspect institutes, selected by drawing lots, at random on short notice, he said. Permission will be withdrawn if they are found flouting the norms, he said.

In his convocation speech, the AICTE chairman said: "The quality level of education has unfortunately not seen the degree of growth it should have. Industry bodies such as Nasscom, CII, Ficci keep lamenting about employability of graduates. This has been often led to under-employment of graduates." He, however, bracketed Jadavpur University among the exceptions "as it has been successful in maintaining high academic standards and producing efficient engineers".