Skill and education are the two principal tools in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Amrit Kaal’, said All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Chairman T.G. Sitharam.
Addressing an interactive session organised by members of Andhra Pradesh Private Engineering Colleges’ Managements Association (APPECMA) here on Friday, Prof. Sitharam said education and skilling had been reoriented according to the aptitude of the youth and the demands of the future. He said the education sector was going through significant changes and that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 had given it the much-needed acceleration.
Referring to the demands made by the association members in a representation made to him, he said the council would ensure that there would be a level playing field for every institution. About the fee structure, he said the council would write to the State government to consider, but it did not have any say in the matter since the State had an independent regulatory and monitory commission. He assured the managements that the approval process would be made simpler and with regard to the demand on retention of the certificates of teachers and students by the managements, he said the council would form a committee that would look into the issue.
Key initiatives
Speaking about the ‘transformative initiatives’ of the AICTE, he touched upon key issues through a powerpoint presentation like teacher training, faculty development, mandating induction, promoting innovation, exam reforms, perspective plan and industry readiness.
Stating that NEP was both a challenge and an opportunity, he said it was shifting focus from cognitive skills to non-cognitive skills and thrust was on internationalisation of higher education, mandatory internships, Academic Bank of Credit and one nation one data.
Engineering admissions
Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) Chairman K. Hemachandra Reddy said contrary to the perception of unfilled seats in engineering colleges, the State had been doing extremely well in the last four years in terms of engineering admissions. If the academic year 2018-19 recorded close to 87,000 admissions, last year, the number rose to 1.2 lakh, he said, informing that to discourage mediocrity, 55 engineering colleges had been phased out in the State in the last four years.
The focus, he said, was on accreditation, and in the last four months, the number of applications seeking accreditation by colleges was more than what the council had received in the last four years.
He raised concern over the “engineering education skewing towards computer science” and called it a disturbing trend. He also sought Centre’s support for faculty training programmes in the State.
Director, Technical Education, Ch. Naga Rani said technology was touching lives like never before and that the focus was on industry-specific training of the students.
APPECMA president Choppa Gangi Reddy urged Mr. Sitharam to look into the issues of minimum and maximum tuition fee fixed for the colleges, emerging courses, approval process, processing fee, caution deposit and permission for retention of certificates of teachers and students.
