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Journalism of Courage
HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi may be now keeping his entire department in limbo but days before he resigned, he took a far-reaching decision: the Government will grade and rank all licensed private engineering and management colleges across the country.
Given the chaos over admissions and quotas, the Government’s reasoning is that this will not only be a ‘‘definitive guide’’ for students but also serve as a pressure for these colleges to focus on infrastructure and quality.
At present, there are almost 1,200 such institutions in the country which are functioning with the approval of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). Of them, 150 are already accredited to the AICTE and have been around for at least a decade, if not more.
The grading system will apply to 1,050 non-accredited institutions and not the well-known ones like the Birla Institute of Technology in Mesra (Ranchi) in Jharkhand or the Manipal Institute of Technology in Karnataka.
Most of these private institutions are based in the four states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra where private technical education took roots long ago. What is a relatively new and worrying development is that some unscrupulous fly-by-night operators have set up education shops in northern India where quality control is not emphasised at all.
HRD officials say that as of now, once approval is granted, institutions have to run as per guidelines for at least six years before they are eligible to apply for accreditation. Until that happens, the grading system is meant to ‘‘bring about a healthy competition and ensure that the the institutions try to out-perform each other.’’
There will be five grades: excellent (score above 85 per cent), very good (score between 75 and 85 per cent), good (score between 65 and 75), average (between 55 and 65) and poor (less than 55).
The criteria for gradation includes infrastructure, quality of faculty, number of students enrolled, placement records and funds available. Infrastructure appraisal comprises a number of sub-heads, like total land at the disposal of the institute, the total size of the buildings, total area set aside for instruction alone, computer facilities, library and hostels.
Said P N Razdan, Advisor in the AICTE and in charge of this ‘‘performance appraisal’’ system: ‘‘There are some colleges which have received approval 10 years ago but have not applied for accreditation because they are lagging behind in infrastructure development. Once this gradation system takes effect, they will be under pressure to act on their shortcomings.’’
The AICTE’s accreditation policy is complex. Technically, it does not believe in accrediting institutions as a whole. Razdan says: ‘‘We only approve their programmes. For example in Kerala, the M E S College of Engineering in Kuttipuram has received accreditation for one programme, BE in Mechanical Engineering.
Similarly, the N S S College of Engineering in Palakkad in the same state has been accredited for its BE programmes in four streams, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Instrumental and Conrol Engineering.’’
The AICTE says it has its published list of approved institutions and it is for the state governments to take action against fake colleges.
