Better State engg colleges planned

PUNE, April 17: Prakash Jawdekar, executive president, State Planning Board, said yesterday that a proposal to upgrade the Government Colleg...

PUNE, April 17: Prakash Jawdekar, executive president, State Planning Board, said yesterday that a proposal to upgrade the Government Colleges of Engineering at Pune and Aurangabad and the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute at Mumbai and elevate them to the level of the Indian Institute of Technology had been recommended in the Ninth Five Year Plan.

He was speaking after inaugurating the two-day national workshop on accreditation under the aegis of the National Board of Accreditation, All India Council for Technical Education AICTE, New Delhi at the Government College of Engineering, Pune. Darius Forbes, chairman, Forbes Marshall group, presided over the workshop.

Jawdekar stressed that he would personally ensure that the proposal giving them more autonomy and upgrading their status helps to meet the technological challenges posed by the 21st century. Government colleges of engineering at Karad, Chandrapur and Amravati have been recommended to be brought on a par with the Regional EngineeringColleges, he said.

Accreditation should be given course-wise and not institution-wise, Jawdekar said, adding that it should be reviewed every three years. He added that the AICTE should evaluate the performance of each institution.

Forbes lamented the lack of technical awareness in institutions which gave rise to civil and administrative problems. Technical knowledge needs to be updated, he stressed. It was important to lay emphasis on project study for students, ready them for professional challenges with a practical approach and improve course structure instead of merely concentrating on the syllabus, Forbes added.

Dr A Kalanidhi, member-secretary, AICTE, said that accreditation connotes quality assurance and the process had assumed significance in view of the extraordinary quantitative growth of technical institutions and programmes over the years. Kalanidhi said that the norms had been prepared for giving accreditation and various teams would conduct visits within the next two days.

Arun Garg,assistant director of the National Board of Accreditation, All India Council for Technical Education opined that a total of 28 institutions, 182 post-graduate level programmes, two government colleges, six RECs and some 15 private colleges had been accredited in the year 1997-98.