While the Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology keep benchmarking quality both individually and amongst themselves in totality, top-ranking technical institutions in the private realm have just begun to look at international accreditation for the programmes they offer as a dependable mechanism to highlight quality.
VIT University, at the start of the calendar year, became the first university in India to undergo the ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accreditation process successfully for two programmes: B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering and B. Tech in Civil Engineering. The programmes accredited with the highest possible grade of NGR (Next General Review) have six-year validity. The university has initiated steps to obtain ABET accreditation for the other degree programmes in subsequent phases.
Recently, the SRM University successfully had its B. Tech Electronics and Communication Engineering programme accredited by ABET. According to the Provost of SRM University, M. Ponnavaikko, ABET accreditation is definitely of very high value owing to the international acceptance of the programmes. In the coming years, the SRM would obtain ABET accreditation for B. Tech programmes in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Biotechnology, he said.
The obvious reason why private technical institutions go for ABET accreditation is that India's own quality conscience-keeper, the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) that functions in the shadow of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), is still struggling to get full membership in the Washington Accord, an international agreement for standardising engineering education.
The NBA was granted just provisional membership twice — in 2007 and 2009 — not only because its accreditation system did not conform to global standards but also since it did not enjoy autonomy in the true sense of the term.
Unlike in the case of countries such as Australia, Canada, Taipei, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States that are signatories to the Washington Accord, in India the accreditation is not carried out by a professional body.
The ABET, on the other hand, is a federation of 30 professional and technical societies representing applied science, computing, engineering and technology. It provides leadership internationally through workshops, consultancies, memoranda of understanding, and mutual recognition agreements such as the Washington Accord.
The disadvantage the NBA faces is that it does not have the leverage to lowly accredit programmes approved by its parent body, the AICTE.
Though NBA is stated to be an autonomous body, it cannot act independently since its very formation was by an Act of the AICTE. It does mean that the AICTE chairman has a say on the functioning of the NBA, explain heads of engineering colleges.
With the provisional status for NBA in Washington Accord set for expiry in 2011, there is no certainty as yet on whether India would be made a permanent signatory, even as NBA is into a process of trial accreditation of programmes in front-ranking colleges in conformity with international standards to strengthen its case.
Though the AICTE is doing its part to enforce quality by itself, India can do precious little at the moment to prevent the international academic community from viewing the technical body as a government agency. Hence, top-ranking private technical institutions in India are not prepared to take chances. They apparently view the stringent ABET accreditation as a reliable mechanism for establishing their standards of education as world class.
