India’s bid to become a full fledged member of the Washington Accord, an international agreement for standardising engineering education, has been turned down by the 13-member grouping.
India, which is a provisional member of the Washington Accord, will again seek for full-fledged membership next year.
The application of National Board of Accreditation (NBA), the body under All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) for accreditation engineering institutes, was rejected after two mentors of the Washington Accord gave adverse reports.
They suggested that India should wait for some more time till the revised criteria for accreditation, which came into force on January one this year, yield results.
“The two mentors, appointed by the Washington Accord, came here and examined our accreditation system. They felt that India needs to wait some more time till the new accreditation guidelines yield results,” a senior AICTE official said.
They will again evaluate the outcome of the new guidelines and suggest accordingly, he said.
The Washington Accord, signed in 1989, recognises substantial equivalence in the accreditation of qualifications in professional engineering, normally of four years duration.
Signing the accord will enhance mobility of the engineering graduates of India to go to any of the signatory countries and do jobs or pursue further studies.
India became a provisional member of Washington Accord in 2007. The elite grouping has Australia, Canada, Taipei, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States as its members.
Germany, Russia and Sri Lanka are the other provisional members of this accord.
The AICTE has revised the criteria for accreditation of institutes to bring them at par with the international level.
As per the revised procedure, the overall placement success of the institute and satisfaction and comfort level of students would be considered while giving accreditation.
The visiting team of NBA will take into consideration the enrolment status, admission norms for students and if the institute is able to fill up all or nearly all the seats for the programmes which it runs.
Facilities for career guidance and arrangement to assist students suffering from psychological disorders are also part of the accreditation procedure
