Engineering colleges in the state will now be evaluated on performance and awarded grades. The colleges will lose recognition if they continuously fail to fulfil the criteria set by the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE).

The DTE has come up with key performance indicators (KPI) for the engineering colleges to transform them into world-class institutes. The KPI is in the proposal stage and after some deliberation, the government will issue a resolution regarding the KPI that will be binding on the colleges.

DTE director S K Mahajan spoke about KPI at a workshop organised in the city on Saturday by the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) in association with Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT) on “How to transform engineering institutes in Maharashtra into World class institutes.”

Principal Secretary of higher education J S Saharia, executive vice-chairman of Association of Managements of Unaided Engineering Colleges R P Joshi and director of VIT Hemant Abhyankar were also present for the function.

Mahajan said the idea behind setting up of KPI was to standardise the technical education. “Besides infrastructure, the KPI will be mainly concentrating on academic excellence. We have linked the performance of colleges to fees so that every college will take it seriously,” he said.

As per the KPI, the colleges will now have to get accreditation by National Board of Accreditation (NBA). “If they fail to get it, they will lose recognition. Presently, only 46 engineering colleges of 264 are NBA accredited,” said Mahajan. “If the colleges get accreditation for all courses, they will be able to hike the tuition fee by 5 per cent,” he said.

... contd.