AICTE announces Examination Reforms Policy

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 22 - All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has launched their policy for some major changes in the engineering courses. The released policy include examination reform (assessment of student), student internships, training of teachers and more. According to AICTE, “Examinations/student assessment play a very important role in deciding the quality of education of education.”

As per the handbook released, AICTE is currently embarking on the following reforms for the improvement of the quality of Indian engineering education:

• Adaptation of Outcome-Based Education Framework - This will focus on making the students more industry ready for the international scene. The National Board of Accreditation (NBA) has made it mandatory for engineering institutions to adapt OBE framework for their curriculum design, delivery and assessment.

• Importance of Higher-order Abilities and Professional Skills - This implies that importance should also be given to higher level skills such as the ability to solve complex problems, apply knowledge, analyze, synthesize and design. Since these practical skills will be important for employability, it should be focused on.

AICTE has also stated the importance of innovative educational experience to teach and assess. By adding a few educational experiences such as course projects, internship experiences, open ended experiments in laboratories and more, the teachers can teach and assess professional outcomes and higher-order cognitive abilities.

Another important reform introduced by the authorities is the introduction of Open-Book examination, which will be designed in such a way that will allow the students to refer to their class notes, textbooks or other approved material rather than relying on rote learning. Students pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering will have to complete at least 600 to 700 hours of internships which will earn them credits.

Not just students but technical teachers will have to walk through an induction course at the time of joining. An initial induction programme will be set up for teachers and updation of their skill set through in-service training programmes will be focused on.