New Delhi: AICTE Chairperson Anil Sahasrabudhe on Thursday said, “Significant structural changes in the education sector, particularly the integration of regulators leading to the establishment of the Indian Higher Education Commission (HECI), will take place this year.” HECI will be a single umbrella body for higher education, according to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
All law enforcement agencies including the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) will be brought together to form HECI. This will take effect this year, ”said Hasasrabudhe. Speaking at a one-day national conference entitled “Salient features of approving process of handbook (20212022) for re-engineering technology education and using NEP,” he said NEP has many features that benefit students, faculty and institutions.
“It creates a window of opportunity. For example, the top 100 institutions at the national level can partner with about 500 international institutions that are the world’s top 500 academic and research partners and the twins,” he said.
Blaming part of the media for the “confusion” that mathematics, physics, and chemistry are not compulsory for undergraduate engineering and technology, Hasasrabudhe said, “It is very important.” Without these a person cannot complete his engineering education, he said.
The changes are aimed to provide more flexibility in student enrollment. This policy allows students from other streams to join engineering colleges but also directs them to take physics, maths or undergraduate courses, he added. “They have to complete the bridge course in order to graduate with a degree in engineering,” he told reporters later.
Asked about the fate of students who failed to deal with maths, physics or chemistry, he replied, “those who come into the business world can go beyond business.”
“Those who want to be accepted come with enthusiasm and skills. They will be able to cope but if they fail, they have to take another course.” Earlier speaking at the conference, G V Selvam, vice-president, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), painted a bleak picture of universities facing the challenge of acquiring advanced teaching skills.
H. Chaturvedi, director, BIMTECH, Greater Noida, has called on the Institute to provide funding, such as that provided by the US government to local institutions, so that educational institutions in the country can be subjected to low admissions, overcrowding and job losses. The conference was held under the auspices of the Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI) here.
