Jadavpur University has opened its doors for a visit by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), which assesses if engineering institutes are maintaining the standards set by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The change of mind by JU, which had so long resisted such scrutiny, follows realisation that central funding for projects in the engineering faculty could be stalled in the absence of the accreditation, said an official of the university.
A team from the accreditation agency will visit three departments — instrumentation and electronics engineering, information technology and power engineering — from March 24 to 26.
JU had prepared a self-study report in 2014 for a visit by the NBA, but the inspection did not take place as the university did not do any follow-up, said a JU official.
Abhijit Chakrabarti, a former member of the NBA’s engineering evaluation and accreditation committee and a former vice-chancellor of JU, said the much-delayed inspection suggests an aversion to getting courses accredited by an authentic rating agency. The “aversion”, he said, was “symptomatic of institutes in West Bengal”.
“During the tenure of the Left Front, colleges and universities were not keen about the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation,” Chakrabarti said.
“The UGC had to prod the institutes regularly to open up to NAAC. Then they were averse to accreditation by the NBA. Finally, JU has dropped its stubborn resistance with respect to three departments.”
Calcutta University, which introduced four-year BTech courses in 2015, has yet to get its engineering courses accredited.
JU pro-VC Chiranjib Bhattacharya, who is also a former dean of the engineering and technology faculty, said the AICTE could de-recognise the courses if they were not accredited.
“The fact that engineering graduates won’t get jobs in the Gulf countries, which recognise degrees only if the courses are approved by the NBA, is another reason why we opted for the NBA visit,” he said.
JU had in 2018 started a common engineering curriculum prepared by the AICTE. Implementation of the common curriculum was one of the conditions for the university to become eligible to seek accreditation, said a JU official.
“Some of the teachers think the common curriculum has diluted the university’s autonomy in drawing up its courses. That explains why the NBA visit will be limited to three departments,” an official said.
JU has 14 engineering departments.
“Let the three departments get themselves accredited. That will inspire others,” the pro-VC told The Telegraph.
Subhojit Bose, executive director of ONGC who graduated from JU’s chemical engineering department in 1989, said the university should have got itself accredited much earlier.
“Accreditation raises the profile of an institute. Besides, such weightage helps during placements,” said Bose, who came to Calcutta from Mumbai to take part in the centenary celebrations of JU’s chemical engineering department.
