Top IIT, NIT faculty to mentor engg colleges

NEWDELHI: Faculty from the country’s best engineering colleges will work as mentors with hundreds of engineering colleges across the country that are laggards in terms of teaching techniques and curriculum, and which do not have enough and high-quality faculty.

The plan is part of a push by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to ensure that at least half the programmes offered by engineering colleges in the country are approved by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) before 2022.

An analysis by AICTE revealed that hundreds of engineering colleges have been unable to get their courses approved by NBA due to outdated curriculum, low emphasis on learning outcomes, and inadequate and poor faculty.

Under the mentorship plan, 200 faculty members from the best technical institutions will be appointed as ‘margdarshaks’ for institutions struggling to get accreditations, a senior HRD ministry official said on condition of anonymity. “The mentors will choose five to 10 institutions which are within 500 km radius of the nodal institution. They will try to help institutions clear NBA accreditation for at least twothirds of the courses... The aim is that each of these mentors ensure that the institutions mentored by them receive NBA accreditation by 2022,” the official added.

Mentors will be selected from faculty of the top 50 institutions including the IITS and top NITS.

“Academic leaders of repute, including retired, who have the capacity to travel and train institutions and their faculty will also be chosen. AICTE will hold special training sessions for mentors...,” said the official. The AICTE will write to institutions about the appointment of mentors for helping them reach the required standards, official said.