The Indian institutes of Technology (IITs) have won the round on the issue of accreditation of courses. The IIT Council remained firm on not going to the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) for their courses.
Instead, the council said the directors would devise their own process similar to that of the NBA for accreditating their courses. The NBA, in turn, would accept this formulation.
This move would help pave the way for India to become a full-fledged member of the Washington Accord, a grouping of 12 countries formed for standardising engineering education globally. The IITs have been resisting accreditation by the NBA.
“The directors will formulate a specific accreditation policy for them. The NBA will give them accreditation,” higher education secretary R P Agrawal said. The IIT Council, the highest governing body of the IIT, met on Wednesday for the first time since Arjun Singh took over as human resource development (HRD) minister.
The NBA is the accreditation body for engineering education under All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). The decision comes a few days after the AICTE revised the criteria for accreditation of institutes to bring them at par with the international level.
The NBA, which evaluates the quality of programmes offered by educational institutions from diploma to PG level, will be a signatory to Washington Accord for ensuring cross border mobility of engineering graduates in the 12 countries. The membership of NBA in the Washington Accord would facilitate easy exchange of ideas, mobility of engineering students and professionals at international level.
The issue of reservation in faculty appointment was also discussed at the meeting. The IITs are most likely to be exempt from implementing reservations for faculty members. The HRD ministry officials informed the IIT directors that the government has already moved a bill, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation in Posts and Services) Bill 2008, in Parliament.
The bill provides reservation in the civil services for SC and ST candidates but exempts such reservation in the appointment of faculty in the institutions of national importance. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in the last session of Parliament.
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