The new engineering syllabus will be unveiled by the Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on January 24 in the office of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The announcement regarding the same was made by the AICTE Chairman Dr Anil Sahasrabudhe. He was present at the inauguration ceremony of the two new schemes by the Council, in Pune on Friday.
He also said that the suggestions from the 11 subject expert committees were taken in order to revamp the old syllabus and the new syllabus includes latest achievements in engineering and technology.
“The current engineering syllabus… has become very old. That’s why… changes have been made in the syllabus. By next week, the new engineering syllabus will be announced and from the next academic year, all engineering colleges across the country will start implementing it,” said Dr Sahasrabudhe.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Sahasrabudhe said "for the first time, students who take admission in engineering courses would have to undergo a mandatory three-week orientation program, which would be part of their syllabus."
“… The students come from diverse backgrounds… many of them come from rural areas and may not be well-versed in English, even though they are bright students. At this stage, they start developing an inferiority complex and a positive intervention for these students is necessary in the first few weeks… so that they don’t feel left out. It is necessary to create a level playing field and that’s what these orientation workshops would do,” he said.
“Today, we see a lot of unrest and clashes among students, which show that respect for each other’s views is missing. We hope to develop an initial camaraderie and respect between students, so that they allow each other to have different views and co-exist in peace,” added Sahasrabudhe.
The updated syllabus will be more aligned with the industry needs and will help the students to get better job prospects, he added.
The AICTE chief said that the new engineering syllabus is significantly different from the old syllabus and in order to aid the teachers with the syllabus a handbook has been prepared as well. Training sessions for the same are on and will be 5 sessions have already been held in different parts of the country.
“In each of these workshops, 10-15 leading college representatives are called in and they, in turn, train representatives of other colleges in their regions. It would take some time before the entire faculty is trained but we are hoping that within a year, we are able to complete the training and implement the syllabus across the country,” he said.