Proposal for employability test for engineering students

 Engineering students may soon have to face a common employability test in their final year, before taking their examination for the BTech degree.

The Centre is keen on using the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) to evaluate students on the technical skills that an engineering graduate must have, in order to be eligible for jobs in industries.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is likely to hold a meeting this week and discuss the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry’s proposal for holding such a test. “The council will have to take the final call on its implementation,” official sources told DH. The proposed test will not be compulsory for the students. “It will be up to the students to decide whether they should take the test,” the sources said.

However, it has been proposed that it be made mandatory for all engineering colleges, including those in private ownership, to participate in the nationwide test.

“Continuation of the AICTE approval to the engineering programmes of the institution will depend on their response to the proposed test. It will be their responsibility to encourage their students to take the test,” sources said.

Once a final decision is taken, the AICTE would draft a regulation to hold the proposed test across the country, and “befitting action” will be taken against institutions failing to comply with it.

An AICTE official said that given that the proposed test will be GATE in a new avatar, students would not have any problem taking it. “About 80% to 90% of engineering students take GATE every year as it is mandatory for admissions to MTech. Many public sector undertakings hire engineering students on the basis of their GATE scores,” he said.

The scores of the test will be shared with employers in both the public and private sectors.
“The proposed test will also help improve the quality of the technical institutes,” an official said. Depending on the performance of their students, the institutes would be encouraged to take measures to improve their standards.

The GATE is conducted jointly by Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangaluru, for admissions to MTech programmes offered by the engineering colleges across the country. The move comes months after the Medical Council of India (MCI) proposed a compulsory National Exit Test (NEXT) for all final semester MBBS students, both for admissions to postgraduate programmes and practitioner license.