Hyderabad, May 12: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday gave his nod for a proposal to grade all engineering and professional colleges in the state based on the quality of education and infrastructure provided by them. He has also agreed to a proposal to amend the Andhra Pradesh Education Act to give more teeth to the state government to control the colleges in an attempt to bring discipline and good standards in them.
The colleges will be graded on the basis of infrastructure, faculty, teaching and training, students’ performance and placement facilities, overall results of the college, student amenities, accreditation from NAAC and other activities. In all, there are 701 engineering colleges in the state with an intake of 2,69,175 students, 1,999 undergraduate colleges with an intake of 4,78,550 students. There are also 282 polytechnics with an intake of 65,890 students.
However, the chief minister cautioned the authorities to maintain transparency and upload everything on website without giving any scope for complaints with regard to grading of the colleges. He stressed the need for college managements to maintain high standards, quality and discipline. “We are spending thousands of crore of rupees on fee reimbursement and we should have some control over the functioning and quality of teaching and availability of infrastructure in these colleges. We have to set certain rules to maintain the quality of education in the colleges,” he said.
At a review meeting on higher and technical education here, Kiran Kumar Reddy said that the 12th Finance Commission has decided to allot large chunk of funds for ITIs, polytechnics, and skill developments programmes for students. He wanted the technical education department to take advantage of this and leverage maximum funds to upgrade all polytechnics and ITIs in the state by linking it with industries and to update the skills of the students. He also agreed to sanction lecturer posts for new government polytechnics. The proposal for release of funds for Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) at Basara, Nuzivid and Idupulapaya and Rs two crore for digitisation of valuable records in the archives department, were also approved.
The chief minister directed the finance department to release funds for payment of salaries to the staff of newly-established universities and contract lecturers in the new government polytechnics. He also agreed to sanction funds to the new universities in a phased manner and asked the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) to submit a comprehensive proposal for facilities like infrastructure, staff and others.
–Agencies