* Virtual Instrumentation class: At a private college in southern Kerala, instrumentation class has gone beyond the “chalk and talk” method and moved into an “experiential lab”. Now, students get to “experience” the lesson.
* This engineering college in Vishakhapatnam has tweaked the evaluation system. Students are tested on various levels: from easy to average and then difficult.
Clearly, in both the cases, these colleges are aiming to improve learning outcomes. And, there is a background to this. Both these colleges are seeking to be accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).
Following a proposal by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to make accreditation mandatory for all engineering colleges by 2022, many institutions are signing up for the process.
AICTE wants at least 50% of programmes offered by engineering colleges to be NBA-accredited.
NBA is an autonomous body responsible for accreditation of higher education programmes based on specified norms and standards.
NAAC is the other accreditation body that governs institutes coming under the University Grants Commission.
Why is AICTE laying emphasis on accreditation of individual subjects?
Given the number of engineering colleges that have mushroomed in the country and the declining number of admissions, it has now become essential for institutions to set new standards.
The drive is aimed at improving the standards of engineering education. Programmes that fail to meet the accreditation standards run the risk of being struck off the approval list.
Lack of awareness
Accreditation has a lot of academic ground to gain in India. NBA has been functioning for more than a decade, and getting this accreditation tag has been a voluntary process for institutions.
“In 2011, NBA upgraded its accreditation process by making it outcome-based. Here, we don’t focus on the number of engineers that are graduating, but the quality of every engineer that is graduating,” says Anil K. Nassa, member-secretary, NBA.
According to NBA, of the 15,000 programmes offered across engineering colleges, only around 8,000 will be eligible for accreditation.
“So far, over 2,000 courses have got accreditation from us, valid for a three-to-five-year period. By the end of the year, we hope to reach the 3000 mark,” he says.
NBA has started creating awareness among colleges to go in for accreditation.
“In North India, there is reluctance among colleges to go in for accreditation. Southern and Westerns regions are better off,” says Nassa.
What if colleges don’t want to take up the process?
“This is a process to improve the quality of engineers. So, if an institution wants to attract students, it is necessary to have the NBA tag,” says Nassa.
Accreditation helps institutions to improve their student enrolment rate, secure funds and motivate their faculty to participate in academic activities.
Benchmarking process
Benchmarking engineering education through accreditation will help the cause of industry by producing better engineers.
Sekhar Sanyal, director, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, cites examples of institutions like SRM University in Chennai, VIT in Vellore, KIIT in Bhubaneshwar that have gone in for IET accreditation, an international benchmarking process.
For students seeking to take up higher studies abroad, the global tag will be an advantage.
“We offer an international flavour to courses by helping institutions create an action plan and build capabilities in institutions on multiple levels,” says Sanyal, adding that they work closely with NBA.
The challenges
Orientating faculty towards the process of accreditation is a major challenge. It’s tedious as it involves considerable documentation work.
Some institutions offer incentives to encourage faculty to think differently and encourage innovation in the classroom.
Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bengaluru has made it mandatory for every faculty to publish two to three research papers a year. The faculty are required to revise the entire curriculum once in every four years and effect minor tweaks in the syllabus once a year.
“To encourage our faculty to take up research, we offer them incentives and also ask them to collaborate with other institutions,” says GM Madhu, associate professor of Chemical Engineering at Ramaiah Institute of Technology.
