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Punjab Engineering College eyes centrally-funded institute tag, fresh proposal to be sent to Chandigarh admn
PEC director Dheeraj Sanghi had made a presentation to the secretary education, UT administration, Sarpreet Singh Gill in October
With the Punjab Engineering College (PEC) eying the centrally-funded technical institute (CFTI) tag, a fresh proposal is being prepared that will be presented to the UT administration.
In a recent communication, the UT education department had asked PEC to send a fresh proposal with the inclusion of more suggestions. The institution has already given up on its long-standing dream to get an IIT tag.
PEC director Dheeraj Sanghi had made a presentation to the secretary education, UT administration, Sarpreet Singh Gill in October. It was first scheduled in March, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
A letter sent to PEC earlier this month had asked the institute to incorporate more suggestions in the proposal. PEC is a grant-in-aid institution under the Chandigarh administration.
The institution became a deemed university in 2003. It is said that the college was closer to getting an IIT tag in the late 1950s when many IITs were established in the country.
CFTI tag game changer for PEC
PEC has not seen any major infrastructure revamp in recent years and getting a tag of CFTI is considered a game changer for the institution. The institution can hire more faculty and its budget will also increase.
Sanghi said, “The institute will become more autonomous if we get a CFTI tag. It will improve our quality and we will attract students from all over the country.”
“Some central government schemes are only for the central institutes,” he added. At present, over 3,000 students are enrolled at PEC, but the infrastructure and resources are lesser than what the institute needs for its student strength.
PEC offers eight undergraduate programmes and 14 postgraduate programmes, besides PhD programmes in various disciplines of engineering, science and others fields.
At 68, PEC went up by 10 notches in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) list for 2020. The institute is slated to improve more in rankings if it gets the central institute tag.
