India’s bid for full-fledged membership in Washington Accord, an international agreement for standardising engineering education, was turned down by a 13 member group.

India may be prolonged further after the grouping has suggested changes to the accreditation system to bring it in conformity with the global standards.

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, which is a provisional member of the Washington Accord from 2007, 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.

India in 2008 approached the Washington Accord for sending mentors for review of the accreditation system before being considered for full-fledged membership.

AICTE V Chairman Prof S S Mantha said that the two mentors, appointed by the Washington Accord, came to India and examined the accreditation system. They felt that India needs to wait some more time till the new accreditation guidelines yield results.

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.

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.

Four are government officials of the six on whom the CBI has registered a case for misusing their official positions and violating the norms laid by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

The case registered were under different sections of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act filed against V K Kohli, convener of Expert Committee of AICTE, New Delhi, Baldev Setia, professor, Department of Civil Engineering, NIT, Kurukshetra, Satnam Singh, assistant professor, Thapar University, Patiala and VK Sharma, professor, Department of Computer Science GKV, Haridwar.

There also a mention by the CBI the names of TN Shastri, chairman-cum-managing Director of Panineeya Sanskrit College Trust and K Anil Kumar, secretary, Panineeya Institute of Science and Technology, Hyderabad, in the case.

One of the allegations levied in the complaint was that the Expert Committee of AICTE, New Delhi after visiting or inspecting the premises of proposed engineering colleges on June 25, 2009 at Hyderabad, owned by a Trust, recommended for establishing it in four different streams with an intake of 60 students in each stream, despite short comings in the built-up area and not following to AICTE norms.

A CBI spokesperson said in a written statement that the accused had abused their official position to cause undue favour to the Hyderabad-based trust and its management

Calcutta University offers three year B Tech courses.  And students who are in the final year of the three year course are in a dilemma as recruiters are not willing to provide them jobs due to a decrease in a year’s s study.

Suranjan Das, Vice Chancellor received petitions from the final year students of the eight B Tech courses this week, seeking a solution for the dilemma that put their careers at stake.

A student said that some of these courses were over 70 years old and regarded as a benchmark for excellence in technical education, but recruiters have become wary of jobs because of the duration. Courses in other engineering colleges are four years-eight semesters while here it is three years-six semesters.

The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has made it mandatory for all graduation courses in technology to be of a span of four years as minimum for entry level for Higher Secondary pass. However the Calcutta University takes only science graduates for eight of its ten engineering courses with the AICTE’s permission.

Recruiters are shunning these graduates although the quality of education remains high.

Another student from the Calcutta University said that in a recent advertisement seeking job applications from engineering graduates stated that the candidates are to specify their marks in all eight semesters of their B Tech course. The final year student was unable to apply despite an excellent academic record because heir courses are only six semesters.

All the courses of Calcutta University were approved by the AICTE, the eight three year B Tech courses as well as two more four year courses. Hence the recruiters cannot shun the graduates from Calcutta University on “technical grounds”.

Dhrubijyoti Chatterjee, Pro Vice-Chancellor (academic) said that a meeting would be held soon with the departments concerned to find a solution so that the students of the university are not discriminated.

Mr Chatterjee said that increasing the duration of the courses by a year-the AICTE has been asking for it from a long time-would entail a lot of changes.

Sushanta Sen, the dean said that the standards might be affected if students would be taken after Higher Secondary. He said that the courses were designed to produce engineer graduates who can go on to research. That is the reason why only science students with honours were eligible for the admissions.

The BTech courses cover electrical engineering, instrumentation, information technology, optics, computer science and engineering, radio physics, chemical engineering, chemical technology, chemical engineering and polymer science. The main recruiters over the years have been the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Indian Space Research Organisation, Damodar Valley Corporation, BSNL, West Bengal State Electricity Board and Bharat Heavy Electricals.

Professor V.N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University announced that the B Tech admissions at the university are suspended for the mean time.

This decision was taken after the Union Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) raised their apprehension over distance education of engineering programmes.

The issue is yet to be solved officially.

There was a meeting recently by the faculty members of the School of Engineering and Technology regarding the issue to be resolved with the MHRD and AICTE, the admissions have been deferred.

The union HRD minister Kapil Sibal has been urged by the Congress leader and former Syndicate Member of Utkal University Alok Jena to initiate measures to ensure proper implementation of the tuition fee waiver scheme for financially backward, women and physically challenged meritorious students pursuing studies in institutions imparting technical education in the country.

This scheme would benefit about three lakh students, envisaged by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), if properly implemented in all the institutions imparting technical education.

In a meeting with Sibal in New Delhi recently, Mr Jena submitted a representation seeking his intervention in the implementation of the tuition fee waiver scheme.

Mr Jena said the implementation of the scheme should be made mandatory in all institutions imparting technical education in the both government and non-government sectors.

The scheme was introduced by the AICTE in 2007 when noted academician and present Director of IIT Kharagpur Damodar Acharya was chairman of the organisation.

Ordering for implementation of the scheme in the state in July this year, the Odisha government had said that typically for every 60 sanctioned intake in a branch/discipline of study, tuition fee waiver shall be given to two women candidate, three economically weaker students (annual income of parents/guardians less than Rs. 2.5 lakhs from all sources) and one physically handicapped students based on merit.

Yesterday, the CBI raided the residence and office of Manju Singh, joint secretary, UGC, for her alleged involvement in a corruption case during her stint in All India Council for Technical Education.

According to the CBI, Singh, who was the then Regional Director AICTE, South West Regional Office, Bangalore had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with the educational trust seeking accreditation for an engineering institution. CBI has booked the senior UGC official for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 15 lakh from an educational trust for giving clearance to an engineering college during her tenure in All India Council for Technical Education, the apex body to standardize technical education in the country.

Singh, who had a long stint in AICTE, is originally a UGC employee. She came back to UGC recently, at a time when CBI was raiding top AICTE officials for corruption in granting council’s approval to technical institution. It is believed CBI action against Singh is as per a Kerala court directive. Also, there are various cases of corruption against Singh in AICTE.

Though UGC chairperson Sukhdeo Thorat and secretary R K Chauhan claimed total ignorance about the raids, highly placed sources said there was drama involving the raids. Few days before the raids, CBI had taken names of top UGC officials. The CBI carried out searches at the office and residence of Manju Singh, presently a joint Secretary in UGC, and offices and residences of Chairman of Kollengode Educational Trust in Bangalore and Palakkad in Kerala last evening.
When Thorat was asked he told to speak to Chauhan. On being contacted, Chauhan said he had no information. But sources in the commission and ministry confirmed the raids. CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal also refused to confirm the raids

The Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) has so far received only a few complaints that have set out in detail the manner in which these tutorials, some of which are even registered with the department, are luring in and fleecing students from the rural areas.
The tutorials, DTE sources disclosed, project the so-called departmental registration as legitimate recognition of being mainstream engineering. Suffice it to say that there are only three DTE registered tutorials in Bangalore. In this context, sources admitted that there could be “any number” of unregistered tutorials offering bogus engineering courses.

Sources said the tutorials offer both four-year engineering degree as well as shorter duration diploma courses in aeronautical engineering, electronics and communication, mechanical engineering and a variety of other subjects. Students are attracted by way of glossy brochures of the institutions and newspaper advertisements in neighboring states which form the source for prospective enrolments. According to sources, the tutorials charge hefty fee for the prospectus. Directorate officials said a number of students are actually enrolled in correspondence courses, although they are under the impression that they are admitted to regular engineering courses that would fetch them a legitimate degree.

It may take some time before the DTE resorts to a crackdown on these “questionable” tutorials. But officials are putting together the modus operandi of the tutorials before they take action against them.

In one case, a tutorial called Vignaan Institute of Aeronautical Engineering and Information Technology, which is registered with the DTE, has taken over 150 students for a ride. Most of the students hail from districts in Andhra Pradesh such as Adilabad, Nellore and Mehboobnagar, besides Bellary in Karnataka. The case of Vignaan Institute was recently brought to the DTE’s notice, following which the “management” is suspected to have absconded.

Some of the duped students have paid upward of Rs 1.5 lakh for the courses for the first couple of semesters. Vishnuvardhan, a third semester student of aeronautical engineering at the institute, said hardly any classes were conducted since he took admission and it was not known when results would be declared. He said that he saw an advertisement in a newspaper in Nellore and joined the institute. But there have hardly been any classes and the results have not been announced and he has paid Rs 1.3 lakh. When he asked the directorate, he found out that the institution was not recognized.

Another student, Mutahar, said that they saw their results online and got to know that all from the institute had failed and when they asked for the recognition papers the management was evasive. He said they want their money back now. Mutahar added that the students were also promised a larger campus and infrastructure, which never materialized.

DTE Curriculum Development Cell Joint Director C R Krishnamurthy insisted that action can be taken only if a written complaint is made. He said that once a complaint is received, they will constitute a committee and conduct an inquiry. In another case, a tutorial by the name of Bangalore Institute of Aeronautical Engineering and Technology at Nagarbhavi offered admission to some students from Andhra Pradesh. It has since been blacklisted and shut down after the DTE received a written complaint against it.

Directorate officials said there is a legal provision for registration of tutorials under the Karnataka Education Act. But it was only as recently as 2006 that the first tutorial was registered. According to directorate sources, punitive action has yet to be taken against the tutorials since they claim to offer informal courses.

More than 100 complaints have been received by the Admission Committee for Professional Courses (ACPC) that from August colleges in Gujarat are refusing to refund their admission fees.

Students have registered complaints about 100 of them accusing 14 engineering colleges of not returning their admission fees.

Aditya Patel got admission first at an engineering college in Ahmedabad, but since he got admission in a more reputed college, he wanted a refund of his fees which he had paid. But he did not get any refund. Hence he filed a complaint against the college authorities. Soon the college administration called him personally and refunded his fees after cutting 10% with the condition that he has to withdraw the case. He was forced to accept and withdraw the complaint as all his academic certificates were with the college authorities and he needed them for a secure future.

More than 25 engineering colleges have been served notices by the ACPC and warned a penalty of Rs 20 lakh if any malpractice was proved. However the scam continues. ACPC has been incapable of taking any punitive actions against the culprits till date. Even deducting 10% of admission fee is illegal.

Mr MN Patel, committee’s secretary and acting vice-chancellor of Gujarat Technological University said that ACPC’s norms recommend full refund of the admission fee and that students too are responsible for allowing the college administration to get away with their illegal deduction. He also said that based on these complaints they send notices to the colleges but soon they receive withdrawal of the complaint and hence they are not able to take any action against the college administration which they misuse to make money.

Sources said the students are arm-twisted into submission by college administrations. Since they give in to wishes of the college administration, nothing much can be done.

In a case related to granting approval of seats to an engineering and management institute despite having inadequate infrastructure, the anti-corruption wing  the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the Bhopal regional office of All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) on Thursday.

CBI had secured a search warrant from a local court on Monday to search a city-based institute as well as for the AICTE regional office. CBI officials raided the AICTE office in Bhopal and seized many documents. It could not be confirmed if the city-based institute was raided by CBI.

The CBI action is a follow-up of the nation-wide crackdown on engineering and management colleges. CBI sources allege that this city-based institute was granted seats by AICTE officials despite insufficient infrastructure. CBI has arrested AICTE member-secretary K Narayan Rao and registered a case of corruption against suspended chairman R A Yadav in connection with these charges.