ALL INDIA COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION NEW DELHI Minutes of the First meeting of All India Board of Undergraduate Studies in Engineering & Technology (AIB-UGET) held on 8 th July, 2016 at 11:00 AM in the Committee Room of AICTE Hqrs., JNU Campus, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110 067. The First meeting of All India Board of Undergraduate Studies in Engineering & Technology (AIB-UGET) was held on 8 th July, 2016 at 11:00 AM in the Committee Room of AICTE Hqrs., JNU Campus, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110 067. Following members were present : 1. Prof. M. R. Ravi, Chairman, Undergraduate Studies in Engineering & Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi- 110016. 2. Mr. G. Yoganand, Chairman and MD, Manjeera Group of Companies, Hyderabad. 3. Dr. Deepa Bhajekar, Director, D- Technology, Mumbai. 4. Dr. Akhil Ranjan Garg, MBM Engineering College, Air Force Area, Jodhpur, Rajasthan 342011 5. Dr. M.K. Tiwari, IIT, Kharagpur, West Bengal. 6. Prof. G. A. Harmain, National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, Hazratbal, Srinagar 190 006., J & K. 7. Dr. V. R. Desai, Professor of Civil Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal.- 721 302. 8. Prof. Shreepad Karmalkar, Deptt. of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai 600 036. 9. Dr. S. S. Tomar, Director, Village Durha, PO Atra Distt Satna -485 446 MP. AICTE Officers present: 1. Prof Alok Prakash Mittal, Member Secretary, All India Council for Technical Education New Delhi. 2. Prof. Rajive Kumar Advisor-I, All India Council for Technical Education New Delhi. 3. Dr. B. L. Rama, Director, All India Council for Technical Education New Delhi The following members could not attend the meeting due to prior commitments: 1. Shri R. K. Sharma, DDG (TX), NTIPRIT, Department of Telecommunication, Ministry of Communications and IT, Sanchar Bhawan, New Delhi
2. Shri Chetan Tholpady, Div Manager, Emerson Climate Technologies, India Pvt. Ltd., Plot no 23, Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, Phase-II, Hinijewadi, Pune- 411 057. 3. Mr. P. Rajendran, Chairman, CII National Higher Education Committee, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), 23, Institutional Area, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-1101 003. 4. Prof. S. K. Singh, Professor Civil Engineering, NERIST Arunachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh 791109. At the outset, Prof. Alok Prakash Mittal, Member Secretary, AICTE welcomed the Chairman and Members of the All India Board of Undergraduate Studies in Engineering & Technology (AIB-UGET). On the request of the members, Prof. Mittal explained the administrative structure of AICTE and the roll of the various Bureaus and Boards of the Council. Prof. Rajive Kumar briefed the Board about the meeting of Chairmen of All India Boards of with the Hon ble Chairman AICTE, Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe and informed that the agenda of the present meeting derived primarily from the agenda set for the Boards by the Hon ble Chairman AICTE in that meeting. Thereafter following items of agenda were taken up for discussion by the members of the Board: 1. Review and Updating of Model curricula: The Chairman of the Board, Prof. M.R. Ravi, apprised the Board that the previous exercise of updating model curricula was undertaken in 2011-2012, when the curricula of six major disciplines, which account for a large majority of undergraduate engineers graduating in the country, viz Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Information Technology, were revised. Other discipline curricula available on the AICTE webpage have undergone revisions much earlier. Thus it is a priority for this Board to undertake this exercise at the earliest. The new developments such as the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, Adjunct faculty scheme, Mentoring Scheme, Madan Mohan Malviya Teacher Training Programme, Choice based credit framework SAMVAY, MOOCS platform Swayam and Skill development framework (NSQF) need to be taken into account in formulating the new curricula, which should also accommodate holistic elements such as Yoga, NSS, Value Education, Sanskrit, Environmental Studies, Disaster Management and Gender Equality.
It was resolved that this item be taken up first thing in the next meeting of the Board. 2. Rationalization of Nomenclature and Equivalence of Courses/Programs in Technical Education for purpose of employment and higher studies, Development of new courses: The Board discussed this matter at length and appreciated the difficulties in its execution. On one hand, the AICTE would not declare any two disciplines as equivalent per se, but on the other, organizations that employ the students need to know which disciplines possess what knowledge base for employment. New programmes being initiated by various Universities and Colleges have freedom to name the programme depending on various factors, and it may neither be possible nor desirable for AICTE to restrict or control this. It was decided that in developing the new curricula, some systematization needs to be incorporated, so that if the programme is to be recognized by AICTE, a particular name of discipline should be associated with a specific set of topics in the curriculum. If this is done, it would be possible for AICTE to announce on its website such information which would help employers and academic institutions to decide which disciplines possess what knowledge base, making their decisions simpler. It was resolved that this item also be taken up in the next meeting for detailing. 3. Review and update of Norms and Standards for various courses/ programs: The Board appreciated that the updation of norms and standards to be specified for various colleges to become eligible for AICTE recognition to run various programmes is of paramount importance. The present Norms and Standards, updated for 2016-17, is available on the AICTE website. It was decided to start work on this activity in one of the forthcoming meetings. 4. Request for Introduction of New Bachelors degree courses in Delhi Technological University: The Board examined the request. It was observed that prima-facie, since DTU is a University, it does not need approval of programmes by AICTE, and recognition by AICTE is being sought by the University to improve the market value of the programmes. It was decided to seek expert opinion from Institutes that are successfully running programmes in the same discipline, and then take a decision
on the matter. It was decided to seek opinions from Physics Departments of IIT Madras and IIT Delhi on the proposed B.Tech in Engineering Physics, and from the Mathematics and Computer Science Departments of IIIT Delhi and IIT Guwahati. The Board authorized the chairman to collect these feedbacks and circulate to the members through e-mail. A few members took responsibility of contacting the above Institutes for feedback on the programme in operation at DTU. Once the feedback is available, the same would be circulated to all members of the Board, and if the members are satisfied, the programmes could be recommended to the EC for acceptance and the decision would be ratified in the next meeting. If not, the item would be discussed again in the next meeting. 5. Request for Introduction of New Bachelors degree course in Railway Engineering The proposal received from Maharashtra Academy of Engineering and Educational Research, Pune, a private trust, for introduction of a new Bachelors degree programme in Railway Engineering was discussed. At the outset, members felt that the course on Railway Engineering should be at postgraduate level. A perusal of course contents reflected that basic courses had been artificially converted to appear to reflect application to Railways. However, the Board decided to obtain expert views on the proposal from IIT Kharagpur, Railway Board and Research Organizations on Railway Engineering. As in the previous item, a few members agreed to take responsibility to obtain comments from experts and forward it to the Chairman for circulation to the Board members. If the members are satisfied, the recommendation could be forwarded to the EC, and the decision ratified in the next meeting. If not, the item would be brought again to the next meeting for a decision. 6. Introduction of a four year B.Tech. degree program in Semantic Information Science and Technology The Board examined the proposal and at the outset felt that the proposal lacked focus. It was however decided to obtain expert views on the proposal from Computer Science Department (expert in quantum computing) of IIT Delhi as well as Bioinformatics group at ICT, Mumbai and Indian Agricultural Research Institute. As in the previous item, a few members agreed to take responsibility to obtain comments from experts and forward it to the Chairman for circulation to the Board members. If the members are satisfied, the recommendation could be forwarded to the EC, and the decision ratified in the next meeting. If not, the item would be brought again to the next meeting for a decision. As a matter arising, it was decided to design a proforma for proposal of new programs, would include information of critical importance about the proposed programme, including the genesis of the program, the need for manpower with
such knowledge base and their employment potential etc. It was decided to take this as an agenda in one of the forthcoming meetings. Prof. M. R. Ravi, Chairman of the Board informed the members that Hon ble Chairman AICTE had informed him that Software companies like Microsoft, AutoCAD, TI etc are willing to provide some of their student version software free of cost to all technical institutes in the country after signing an MOU with AICTE. The members were requested to gather information on the list of such software whose licenses would be required in the academic institutions. It was decided to discuss the possibility and desirability of AICTE signing such MOU with software companies, in the next meeting. It was further decided that Dr. Rajive Kumar Advisor-I AICTE, New Delhi would be requested to circulate the Startup Policy decision of the Council to the members of the Board, to enable a discussion on inclusion of curricular and infrastructural inputs on startups to the AICTE approved institutions, in the next meeting. One of the members suggested that the NIFTEM website contains useful information regarding startups in Food Engineering. It was decided tentatively to hold the next meeting on September 3, 2016. The meeting ended with thanks to all the members. -----