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Source: University World News
India’s Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) this week unveiled a draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019 just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi secured a solid majority for his Bharatiya Janata Party in national elections.
The government’s non-committal attitude towards education makes it look like a ploy to privatize education.
Source: The Pioneer via PwC – EdLive
According to the HRD Ministry officials, the UGC is in the process of coming out with regulations in this regard. At present, the AICTE is the lone regulatory authority for technical education providers. The step has also been taken following cognisance of a feedback study by the Union HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju. The study found 53% technical graduates not meeting the standards of the industry today. A dismal 13% of the technical graduates were found industry-ready, while 17% worth trainable. “This is being done to bring greater accountability in the technical and management education in the country. There have been reports about various irregularities in the accreditation process so far by the AICTE. Giving UGC the mandate will create checks and balances,” said an HRD Ministry official. The regulations could be notified by February 2013 so that it comes into effect during the coming academic session.
The UGC, presently, regulates only the general academic programmes across the country and very recently it has also been tasked to regulate the entry of foreign educational institutions in India. The HRD Ministry, through UGC, sought to make it mandatory for every higher educational institution and every programme to get accredited by an accreditation agency to certify academic quality. Sources said the Ministry has also written to state governments to create accrediting agencies to regulate systematically the technical and management institutions for imparting quality education. The UGC has been tasked for this work as the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010 is still pending in the Parliament. It could not be taken over during the just concluded Winter Session while chances of tabling during the Budget Session of the Parliament are also bleak.
To set technical standards for institutes, the HRD Minister also announced a new accreditation body under the AICTE on the lines of the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) with identical functions. It was argued that the need for the new body was an effort towards capacity building and to follow the best practices of different countries to come out with new methodologies of evaluation as AICTE has 60,000 programmes or institutes awaiting clearances.
Source: www.mangaloreinformation.com via PwC – EdLive
The Human Resource Development Minister M M Pallam Raju has informed that the AICTE will allow more technical courses including engineering through correspondence i.e. distance learning mode, as long as the laboratory work for these courses is conducted through face-to-face sessions.
‘Technical education’ as defined under the AICTE Act 1987, includes programme of education, research and training, engineering, technology, architecture, town planning, management, pharmacy and applied arts and crafts. Currently, students can only pursue technical courses such as management (MBA) and computer application (BCA, MCA) programmes through distance learning. Till date, the AICTE was of the view that distance education programmes in engineering should not be offered till proper standards have been put in place. So this provision for allowing studying engineering through correspondence comes with a clause.
“Only those students who have at least one regular classroom diploma or degree and with some work experience are eligible to apply for these distance technical education degrees. Also, this relaxation will not apply to architecture and pharmacy courses,” said AICTE Chairman, Dr S S Mantha. He added that based on recommendations of several committees, the council has decided to allow more technical courses through correspondence. However, the final decision will be taken later. The proposal is likely to be finalised by February 2013.