727 relatively new institutions to be mentored to help boost their ranking: HRD minister

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As many as 727 relatively new institutions will now be mentored by institutes having good accreditation records and retired IIT and NIT professors to help them boost their ranking under the Margdarshan and the Margdarshak schemes, Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said on Wednesday.

The minister launched several initiatives of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) here and announced the 360-degree feedback of faculty, under which students’ feedback will also given weightage in deciding promotion of teachers.

Under the Margdarshan scheme, institutions having good accreditation records are supposed to mentor 10-12 relatively newer ones, the ministry said.

These high performing institutes are provided funds up to Rs 50 lakh for every institution they mentor over a period of three years to carry out various activities like training sessions, workshops, conferences and travel. Under the Margdarshak scheme, mentor teachers are identified who are either serving or superannuated but willing and motivated with good knowledge of accreditation and can devote adequate time to make required visits to mentee institutions.

These Margdarshaks will regularly visit the mentee institutions, stay on their campuses and guide them.

A total of 942 applications were received from working and superannuated professors of IITs/NITs which were further screened and finally 296 mentors are identified, the ministry said.

In the first phase, unaccredited institutes having student enrolment of 70 per cent or more and willingness to get mentored are provided with Margadarshaks. Remaining institutes can be covered in the subsequent phases.

The AICTE, in consultation with its All India Board of Technician Education (AIBTE), constituted subject-wise teams of three-four experts drawn from academia and industry to prepare model curriculum for diploma courses in seven disciplines. Some of the features include the introduction of credit course on sports and yoga in the first semester to inculcate the habit of physical and mental fitness right at the start and inclusion of courses on socially relevant topics. Courses on the Indian Constitution, environmental science and the essence of Indian knowledge and tradition have been embedded in the curriculum, the ministry said.

The AICTE has made 7-10 weeks’ summer internships mandatory in the new curriculum to equip the students with practical understanding and training about industry practices in a suitable industry or organization, it said.

The HRD minister also announced that ‘WAWE Summit 2019’ will be held in November-December this year. It will be jointly organised by AICTE and Institute of Waste Management (IIWM) at Jaipur.