AICTE not to approve yet-to-be-accredited institutes

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided not to extend approval of the programmes of the technical institutes which fail to get quality assurance certificate and accreditation from the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) by 2022.

Of a total 10,400 technical institutes, just 16% are accredited, even as accreditation was made mandatory for all the engineering and other institutions offering technical programmes in 2014.

To help the institutes meet the deadline and speed up the process, the Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Wednesday launched 'Margdarshan' and 'Margdarshak' schemes.

Under the 'Margdarshan' scheme, the institutions having good accreditation record will mentor “relatively newer” 10-12 institutions to prepare them for accreditation. Best practices in the teaching-learning process followed in the mentor institute will be diffused to the mentee institutions.

“A fund upto Rs 50 lakh per institution will be provided over a period of three years in installments for carrying out various activities like training, workshops, conferences and travel,” a ministry official said.

Under the 'Margdarshak' scheme, teachers who are either serving or retired but willing to serve and have good knowledge of the accreditation process will be engaged to mentor the yet-to-be-accredited institutes. Each of them will be given responsibility to mentor 4-5 institutes.

“They regularly visit the mentee institutions, stay on their campus and guide them for their improvement in quality so that institutions are able to get accreditation by NBA,” the official added.

The AICTE has identified a total of 40 technical institutes to serve as mentors and is in process of appointing individuals 'Margdarshak' under the two schemes.

In the first phase of the implementation of the two schemes, institutes, which have student enrollment of 70% or more and are willing to get mentoring through the 'Margadarshaks', will be provided support.

“As many as 400 institutes have so far expressed willingness to be mentored for the NBA accreditation,” a Ministry official said.