Reports on Technical Education : Er. Alok Kumar

Bihar and Technical Education
Er.Alok Kumar *

Last week AICTE high level team inspected Motihari , Gaya and Darbhanga based engineering colleges for approval . I hope it will have positive report and Bihar will have a few more engineering colleges like other states .
As per AICTE data as on 31.08.2007 India is having 1668 approved Degree Engineering Colleges in which only 6 are from Bihar . Highest Engineering colleges are in Andhra Pradesh ( 319) , TamilNadu ( 268 ) , Maharastra ( 186 ) , Karnatka ( 141 ) , Uttar Pradesh ( 136 ) , Madhya Pradesh ( 104 ) .

Karnatka have had policy regarding private participation in 1950s only which resulted today many of leading Engineering Colleges are from Karnatka with qualiy education and such colleges helped Karnatka / Bangalore in skilled man power supply . Even politicaly active states like Uttar Pradesh opened its door for private participation in Engineering education only in 1998 and in last 10 years its number grew from 6 to 136 . Uttar Pradesh district Gautam Budhda Nagar ( NOIDA & Greater NOIDA ) is having a dedicated Knowledge Parks which is having more than 100 professional degree colleges . While Engineering Colleges from TamilNadu and Andhra Pradesh have thousands of Vacant seats every year due to this regional imbalance .

Many of states government have a restricted policy in Combined Entrance Examination and admissions in such private engineering colleges so only 15 % seats left for other states , for example in Uttar Pradesh 85 % seats are reserved for domicile of UP using State Entrance Examination qualified while rest 15 % are of NRI / Management .

In Such case , Bihari Students faced tough problems they need to pay a heavy amount from backdoor and much cost to parents per month OR outflowing of money from Bihar to states like Karnatka / Maharastra and Western UP .

A few private initiated engineering colleges are in Bihar but they have very poor Infrastructure and no availability of qualified teachers , No supporting Industry . For example , Bangalore / Mysore , NOIDA / GHAZIABAD and HARYANA based engineering colleges have Industrial interaction and support .







World Bank pat for state tech institutes
- BIT, Mesra, Sindri; polytechnics improve quality ratings

Ranchi, July 7 : A Report from Er.Alok Kumar:

The standard of technical education in Jharkhand has improved dramatically in the span of six months, reveals a World Bank sponsored review of some top institutions.

Since the last Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) review that was based on the findings of a World Bank team in January, the latest review has awarded BIT, Mesra, 9.4 on 10, and BIT, Sindri, 7.4 points against a national average of 6.6.

The two government polytechnics at Ranchi and Dumka, covered under TEQIP, have also improved, registering over 6 points each.

As reported in The Telegraph on February 27, the January review painted a dismal picture of the state of technical education in the state. BIT, Mesra, scored 6.7, while BIT, Sindri, got 5.4. The two government polytechnics in Ranchi and Dumka scored a pathetic 2.1 and 4.2 respectively.

“The overall performance of institutions in the 10th review of TEQIP has improved remarkably. But these institutions need to do much more to sustain the improvement,” said technical education director Arun Kumar, who was present at the review meeting.

“All the institutes need an NBA accreditation for the various courses they offer before September 30. Besides, teaching position vacancies need to be filled — at all levels in polytechnics and at senior levels in BIT, Sindri,” Kumar added.

The review meeting was held at TEQIP’s Noida-based National Project Implementation Unit under the aegis of the Union ministry of human resource development. It was attended by C.T. Mahajan, a joint secretary-level official in the ministry, BIT, Mesra, vice-chancellor P.K. Bahrai, BIT, Sindri, director S.K. Singh and others.

Jharkhand has already received around Rs 35 crore under TEQIP to improve its technical education. The major chunk, about Rs 20 crore, has gone to BIT, Mesra, while BIT, Sindri, got about Rs 12 crore. Both the state-run polytechnics received Rs 1 crore each.

Two other engineering institutions in the state, National Institute of Foundry and Forge and National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, are also covered under the programme — but both are under Centre’s guidance.

The second phase of TEQIP is set to start March 2009 onwards. Then, sources said, engineering colleges offering undergraduate and postgraduate studies would be covered, while polytechnics would be left out.

On the issue of accreditation, BIT, Sindri, director S.K. Singh said they were planning to register two new under-graduate programmes in information technology and computer science through the NBA within the stipulated time. “The institute needs more autonomy and stakeholders are convinced about this. The government should consider the matter seriously,” he added.








Centre promises policy on deemed universities : Er.Alok Kumar






“Status being sought by institutions that have no infrastructure and adequately qualified staff”






New Delhi: The Union government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that a policy to regulate and streamline deemed universities, including the criteria for conferring the deemed university status, will soon be put in place.

Additional Solicitor-General (ASG) Vikas Singh made this submission before a Bench, consisting of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and H.S. Bedi, hearing a petition filed by advocate Viplav Sharma, seeking proper guidelines to prevent the mushrooming of deemed universities.

Draft guidelines


The ASG said draft University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines were lying with the government. When Mr. Justice Bhandari asked the ASG to file reply in two weeks, he said, “the government is in a flux and no decision could be taken.” The ASG said at least five weeks time was required to come out with the policy decision.

Mr. Justice Bhandari told the ASG: “The situation is so bad that the matter requires immediate attention. This is an extremely important matter.”

Counsel Sanjay Hegde said that during the pendency of this petition, over 25 institutions were granted the deemed university status.

The Bench, while posting the petition for final hearing to August 25, asked the ASG and counsel for the UGC to file their response in the meanwhile.

Strict scrutiny


During the last hearing, the Centre told the court that once the new regulations were in place, private institutions would be subjected to strict scrutiny before grant of the deemed university status. Foreign universities would also be brought under the purview of the regulations.

The petition said the ‘Deemed to be University status’ was being sought by all sorts of institutions that had no infrastructure, no facility and no adequately qualified staff.

The trend of establishing deemed universities had gained ground and new developments in education were being exploited commercially, bypassing all safeguards including approvals by the State governments and other authorities such as the All-India Council for Technical Education, the Medical Council of India and the Dental Council of India.

High quality


Contending that the Centre and the UGC were conferring the status arbitrarily, the petitioner sought a direction to the respondents to confer it only on institutions that produced high quality research papers and professionals of global acceptability.