The National Board of Accreditation (NBA) has announced its new outcome-based accreditation model under which technical institutions will have to prove the outcome of the programme for it to be given the NBA’s approval.
D.K. Paliwal, member secretary, NBA, who was in the city to announce the opening of the board’s first regional centre in the country at the Visvesvaraya Technological University’s (VTU) regional campus in Bangalore, said the new accreditation model was introduced in April this year. As per the new guidelines, institutions (including engineering, management and pharmacy) will be assessed on three criteria: vision, mission and objectives of the programme proposed; competency and capabilities expected from the students taking up the programme; and course and curriculum, and continuous improvement, including having a mechanism to assess the programme and incorporating corrective measures.
“These are already practised in developed countries. Through this, we can ensure the high employability of our graduates,” he said.
Mr. Paliwal also said the board has 12 parameters to assess the graduates: general parameters namely communication skills, presentation, sensitivity to environment and society, project management and continuous reading habits; and six attributes which have been evolved “in line with international practices and industry requirement.” These include specific engineering skills and ability to analyse complex engineering problems.
Speaking about the new NBA regional centre in Bangalore, Mr. Paliwal said that it will cater to institutions in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. “Three other regional centres have been identified, but are yet to take off. They are Kolkata (West Bengal), Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh) and Ahmedabad (Gujarat),” he added.
The south regional centre of the NBA will be inaugurated at the VTU regional campus in Nagarabhavi here on Saturday.
