New Delhi : Setting up a standalone language laboratory for students deficient in English and confidence-building of those taking up competitive examinations and interviews are essential criteria for any new institute that wants to offer engineering, management or other technical programs. This is according to regulations of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which has sought applications from those willing to start an institute from the 2017-18 academic year. The aim, said an AICTE official, is to focus on developing skills set that are not outlined in the curriculum, but meant to give students an extra edge and industry-readiness.
“The language laboratory is to be used for language tutorials. These tutorials will be open to students who voluntarily opt for remedial English classes. Lessons and exercises will need to be recorded on a weekly basis so that the students are exposed to a variety of listening and speaking drills. Language laboratory sessions will also include word games, quizzes, extemporary speaking, debates and other such exercises. These laboratories will have 25 computers for every 1,000 students,” the official said.
According to AICTE, there are 10,356 approved technical institutes across the country in the current 2016-17 academic year.
An institution-industry cell is another essential norm that new institutes will have to implement. Establishment of a placement cell and an intellectual property right cell as well as implementation of the government’s startup policy, are, however, being kept ‘desirable norms’ by the Council. A fabrication facility laboratory or innovation laboratory has also been included as a desirable requirement. “While companies often rue that students graduating from technical institutes are not industry-ready or employable, the AICTE norm for compulsorily creating a cell that enables academia-industry to interact and collaborate is meant at tackling this problem. Such a cell should ensure that students in particular get a lot of industry exposure. More industries should definitely be part of the higher-education system. Many probably want to, and for that we need to make the environment conducive for them,” the official said. After recently issuing a design manual, which identifies current problems in campuses and stipulates design changes to make campuses disabled-friendly, the AICTE, as part of its approval process, has also instructed colleges to provide “appropriate facilities to take care of physically-challenged students and elderly persons”.
A new institution under AICTE will also have to implement the government’s ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’, which wants to connect institutes of higher education with local communities.
OTHER REQUIREMENTS
— Establishment of language laboratory for students deficient in English
— Establishment of Institution-Industry cell (essential)
— Digital payment of all financial transactions as per HRD ministry directives (essential)
— Institution website with mandatory disclosure (essential)
— Sewage disposal system (essential)
— Implementing Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, in the institution (essential)
— Offering skill-development courses approved by AICTE (desirable)
— Establishment of a placement cell (desirable)
— Establishing an Intellectual Property Right cell (desirable)
— Rainwater harvesting and grid-connected solar rooftops/ power systems (desirable)
— Public announcement system at strategic locations for general announcements/ paging and announcements in emergency (desirable)
— Waste management and environment improvement measures to ensure a sustainable green campus (desirable).
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