AICTE conducts surprise checks at 41 engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu

Chennai : The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) inspected 311 engineering colleges across the country recently. Of these, 41 colleges were in Tamil Nadu, the Chairman Anil D Sahasrabudhe told in a conclave on ‘creating competent engineers for a new India, with innovative minds and entrepreneurial capabilities’ on Saturday.

He also announced that from the coming academic year, the first three to four weeks, engineering colleges will have no classes. The period would be used to focus on soft skill development and also the socialization of students. Especially for the ones who hail from rural background and after joining college, feel out of place.

Sahasrabudhe said a surprise inspection was done in 311 colleges which was three percent of the total number of colleges in the country. “Of the 311 colleges, 41 colleges were from Tamil Nadu. In the first round when we checked, 187 colleges were having a deficiency. Deficiency may range from minor to major deficiencies. More than 60 percent had deficiency,” he said. When show cause notice was given to the colleges, some of them who had minor deficiencies rectified them. They were given two to three month’s time to rectify. There were 45 percent vacancies in all colleges in every State.

He also said 28 colleges on their own applied for closure, of which six had no admission. Sixteen new institutions had come up in Tamil Nadu of which eight were pharmacy, two are for engineering and two for government polytechnic and four for post graduate diploma. Prist University got approval from AICTE for Chennai and Madurai campuses. Amrita School of Engineering is to open a new college with 300 seats. In the MGR Film institute, the diploma courses will be closed and will be upgraded into degree courses.

Speaking on soft skill development and socialization during the first month of the engineering classes, he said that during orientation day, there is not much interaction with students. Students coming from rural areas feel out of place as they might not be speaking good English. Also, there are students who have inhibitions to talk to others.

“First three to four weeks there won’t be any class at all. Teachers will focus on soft skill development so that those who are not fluent with English or do not know English,” he said adding, therefore, a student’s ability to express is important. He may express his ideas in his language. This will help develop his self-confidence.  

“We will also teach physics, chemistry, and mathematics which they learned in Classes XI and XII. After this they will start their regular course,” he said adding that teachers will be trained in this. Initially, they will be trained by IIT experts.

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