Curriculum Is Revised With Respect To New Age Technologies: Anil Sahasrabudhe

How will you define the role of AICTE in the present education scenario for technology and engineering education in India?

AICTE as a regulator had always a role to regulate the technical education by way of approving the new and continuing colleges, programmes, intake capacity based on minimum norms and standards being satisfied by the institutes. AICTE has now made accreditation of programmes mandatory as per Washington accord, thereby our graduates will be treated on equal footing in all Washington accord signatory countries. AICTE has embarked upon a program of Margdarshan and Margdarshak to mentor and support technical institutes to improve quality and get accredited. AICTE has also embarked upon a mandate of 10 quality initiatives to constantly challenge the institutes to become better and better. Programmes like Smart India Hackathon, setting up Innovation Centres, Entrepreneurship cells, Incubators Startup ecosystem etc has been invoked in all colleges to create employable technocrats and entrepreneurs. So education is looked upon as an empowering tool for the students of technical colleges.

What kind of education eco-system do we need to build in order to bring in the future technologies in our educational institutions?

The courses on AI, IoT, Machine learning, Deep learning, Robotics, Blockchain, Augmented reality and Virtual reality, Cloud computing, data Analytics have been added in the curriculum which will help our graduates, creators of new technologies and applications for the betterment of the quality of life of citizens. The faculty are being trained in these domains through one week to two-week faculty development programmes which in turn will help students. MMOCs courses in these topics are being developed by chosen excellent faculty so that free education is provided at the doorsteps of every learner. 

How are we seeing the connect between Education Employment, Employability and Economic Growth?

Education, Employability, Employment and Economic growth are all connected to each other. But education is more than all these aspects. It prepares an individual for life, makes him/her a lifelong learner, sensitive to needs of society, citizens and the nation. Economic growth is a natural corollary of all this. 

Innovation is an overrated term, what’s next?

Innovation should be a way of life, starting from the selection of courses, delivery of knowledge and contents, preparing citizens to be useful of society.

According to you, how is the Government of India faring in making the education in India globally?

Education can become truly global by way of becoming competitive, committed, attracting students and faculty from all over the world.