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New Delhi : AICTE, in association with various organisations, carries out an employability Skill Test of pre-final and final year graduate students of AICTE approved institutions annually. The results have indicated that there has been a constant rise in employability of engineering graduates in India over the last 5-years.
To increase the employability of graduates in the country, the HRD Ministry is working along with Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) under National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to undertake Apprenticeship/Internship embedded degree programmes with core focus on development of knowledge, skills, aptitude and on-job training.
Some of the sectors like Logistics & Retail have commenced Degree Apprenticeship programmes in 15 institutions. Further, 52 MoUs have been signed between Media & Entertainment Skills Council (MESC) and Colleges/Universities for offering specialised courses for students in Media & Entertainment Sector. Also, the Logistics Sector Council is in the process of aligning with 50 colleges for further running courses in Agri supply- chain and Aviation, apart from the PG Diploma in Data Science (Logistics) and BBA (Logistics).
In addition, to boost the vocational education in the country, 3 schemes are being implemented by University Grants Commission (UGC) under National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) which are Community Colleges (since 2013-14), B.Voc Degree Programme (since 2014-15), and Deen Dayal Upadhayay (DDU) Kaushal Kendra (since 2015-16). There are 188 Community Colleges, 289 Institutions offering B.Voc Degree Programmes, and 68 DDU Kaushal Kendras in which 68,663 students are enrolled in various skill programmes. Also, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has introduced the Vocational Degree/Diploma Programs under NSQF for AICTE approved Institutions. In the year 2019, AICTE has given approval to 473 institutions to run vocational courses with intake of 35,450 students.
Also, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is implementing a flagship scheme known as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 2016-20 with an objective to provide skilling to one crore people under Short Term Training (STT) and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) across the country for four years i.e. 2016-2020 with an outlay of 12,000 crore. Also, a committee was constituted in 2018 for preparing short term and medium term perspective plan, with a view to improve employability of Engineering graduates in India.
Also, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is implementing a flagship scheme known as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 2016-20 with an objective to provide skilling to one crore people under Short Term Training (STT) and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) across the country for four years i.e. 2016-2020 with an outlay of Rs 12,000 crore.
A committee was constituted in 2018 for preparing short term and medium term perspective plan with a view to improving employability of Engineering graduates in India. The Committee recommended that Courses on nine emerging technologies like AI, DATA Science, IOT, Cyber Security Robotics, Design, Quantum Computing, AR/VR, Block Chain and 3d Printing should be introduced in UG Engineering Courses. It also recommended greater focus on multi-discipline course by reducing seats in conventional disciplines and converting existing seats into these courses.
The quality measures being taken by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to increase the employability of graduates in the country, particularly engineering graduates include (i) Preparation of outcome based model curriculum for Diploma, Undergraduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) courses in Engineering and PGDM/MBA Courses and (ii) Introduction of 3 week induction programme for students to be offered right at the commencement of the 1st year at UG level in Engineering.
The information was given by the Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on February 10, 2020, according to a PIB release.