Hire faculty for new-age courses in engg colleges: AICTE

In line with its plan to replace traditional and less-attractive courses with new and in-demand ones, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) directed

In line with its plan to replace traditional and less-attractive courses with new and in-demand ones, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) directed engineering institutes to recruit postgraduates with degrees in interdisciplinary courses as faculty members.

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In a notice issued to engineering institutes last week, the apex body governing technical institutes in the country said that it had come to AICTE’s notice that engineering and technology institutes were not recruiting teachers with degrees in emerging technologies.

Citing examples, AICTE said that a postgraduate in Very Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) Design may be considered as a relevant/appropriate option for the recruitment of faculty in the department of Computer Science and Engineering. Similarly, an MTech in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information should also be considered for direct recruitment in the civil engineering department.

In 2017, AICTE had notified a list of major/core branches of engineering and technology and their relevant/appropriate courses for recruitment of teaching positions in technical institutions. Last week’s notice clarifies that the list is only illustrative and not conclusive. Hence, institutes may recruit faculty in fields which not mentioned in the list.

A senior official from AICTE said that the directives were in line with the recommendations made by the Reddy Committee, which looked into the declining demand for traditional engineering courses and made suggestions to improve the quality of technical education. The Reddy Committee has recommended that AICTE focus on introducing undergraduate engineering programmes in new-age courses such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Machine Learning, Data Science and Analytics, Cloud Computing, Robotics, in institutes.

According to information shared by the state common entrance test (CET) cell for engineering courses, vacancies for BTech courses in government-run as well as private institutes in Maharashtra stood at 48% in 2019-20, while in 2018-19, 56% seats remained vacant. Across the country, in 2018-19, around 43.3% were vacant for engineering courses.

HT had earlier reported that in view of the decline in demand, AICTE had planned to replace traditional and less-attractive courses with new-age and in-demand ones. Last year in January, it introduced a blanket ban on new engineering institutes until 2022. The apex body also stopped approving additional seats in traditional engineering fields — mechanical, electrical, civil and electronics.