Lok Sabha Question No. 112 (STARRED), answered on 2017-07-24
Subject: Technical Institutions
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: PONNUSAMY VENUGOPAL, ASHWINI KUMAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 112 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2017

## Technical Institutions

## *112. DR. P. VENUGOPAL:

SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR:

## Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  it  is  a  fact  that  more  than  half  of  the  engineers  graduating  from technical institutions across the country every year remain unemployed and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether this is a huge potential loss of man days annually and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether less than 1 per cent of engineering students participate in summer internships and just 15 per cent of engineering programmes offered by over 3200 institutions are accredited by the National Board of Accreditation and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government is considering a major revamp of India's technical education; and
- (e) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  action  taken  by  the  Government  in  this regard?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## (SH. PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

A  statement is laid on the table of the House.

## STATEMENT AS REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) TO (E) OF THE LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  112  FOR  24.07.2017  ASKED  BY  DR.  P. VENUGOPAL: SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR REGARDING TECHNICAL INSTITUTIONS

(a) &  (b):  As  per  the  data  collected  by  AICTE  from  10,328  technical  institutions, 6.96 lakh out of the 15.87 lakh students who passed out in 2015-16 were placed in jobs through the campus placements. This does not include the students who got jobs directly without going through campus placements, who are self-employed in start-ups and those who had taken to higher studies. Therefore, it will be erroneous to say that more than half of Engineers graduating from technical institutions across the country remain unemployed.

(c)  It  is  true  that  the  system  of  summer  internships  was  being  followed  only  by reputed  engineering  colleges.  The  AICTE  through  its  Council  resolution  of  14 th March  2017,  resolved  that  every  student  in  a  technical  institution  shall  do  three internships each spanning 4 to 8 weeks before completion of the under-graduation. The  responsibility  will  be  on  the  institution  for  helping  the  students  in  finding suitable industry or organisation for the internship.

With a view to improving the quality of the technical institutions, the accreditation by the  National  Board  of  Accreditation  (NBA)  has  been  made  mandatory  for  any expansion of the programmes. So far, the NBA has so far granted accreditation to 6,755  technical  programs  from  out  of  the  8,195  applications  for  accreditation  in period from 2004-05 till June, 2017.

With a view to improving the quality of technical education, the following action plan has been approved by the AICTE:

1.  Planning: Perspective Plans will be prepared for each State in consultation with  the  concerned  State  Government  for  assessing  the  demand-supply situation  projected  for  the  next  10  years.  This  will  be  a  guiding  document while approving new institutions by AICTE.
2.  Selection:  The students for the technical courses shall be selected based on a standardized examination.
3.  Induction  training:  Every  student,  on  admission,  shall  be  put  through  a mandatory Induction training to reinforce the fundamental concepts and the required  language  skills  required  for  the  technical  education.  The  model curriculum  and  the  periodicity  of  this  induction  training  will  be  separately notified by the AICTE.
4.  Revision of curriculum:  Every affiliating Technical University shall constitute subject-wise  industry  consultation  committee  (ICC)  with  the  mandate  of examining  the  existing  curriculum  and  for  making  suitable  changes  in  the curriculum  every  year.  This  process  shall  be  completed  in  the  month  of December each year for the courses to be offered in the coming Academic year. Each institution, while applying for approval, shall certify completion of this process, which will be mandatory.
5.  Mandatory internships:  Every student  in  technical  institution  shall  do  three internships  each  spanning  4  to  8  weeks  before  completion  of  the  undergraduation.  The  responsibility  will  be  on  the  institution  for  helping  the students in finding suitable industry or organisation for the internship.
6.  Industry  readiness:  All  students  passing  out  of  the  undergraduate  courses shall be imparted technical and soft skills required for working in the industry encompassing  -  managerial  skills,  entrepreneurial  skills,  leadership  skills, communication skills, team-working skills and technical skills.
7.  Promoting  innovation/start-ups:  There  shall  be  efforts  at  every  level  for promoting  innovation  and  creativity  in  the  students.  The  innovation  drives like  Hackathon  shall  be  promoted,  so  that  innovative  ideas  would  emerge that can be incubated in the start-up centres.
8.  Exam reforms: The final exams being conducted by the institutions shall test the  understanding  of  the  concepts  and  the  skill  -  rather  than  the  subject knowledge. A model exam format would be prepared and shared with the institutions  and the technical universities for suitable adoption. This aspect would be reviewed at the time of approval.
9.  Training  of  teachers:  Every  teacher  in  each  of  the  technical  education disciplines shall mandatorily undergo an annual refresher course delivered through SWAYAM portal, encapsulating all the major advances in the field of their  study.  Online  courses  would  also  be  prepared  and  delivered  through the  SWAYAM  platform  for  improving  the  pedagogical  techniques  of  the teachers.  The  participation  in  the  courses  by  atleast  50%  of  the  faculty would  be  a  mandatory  condition  for  approval  of  the  institution.  Similarly, there should be leadership training to the heads of the institutions once in 2 years. These trainings would also be hosted through the SWAYAM platform.
10.  Mandatory accreditation: At least half of all the programmes in the technical institutions shall be accredited through the NBA before 2022. Unless there is credible progress each year, the approval of the institutions can be refused. In order to assist the institutions in meeting the mandatory requirements for applying for accreditation, a separate mechanism will be put in place.

Further,  AICTE  implements  the  National  Employment  Enhancement  Mission (NEEM) and Employment Enhancement Training Programme (EETP) to enhance the employability of the students.

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