Assesment of Quality of Udergraduate Engineering Programmes in India

Abstract

There has been a steep increase in the growth of technical institutions in India over the last two decades. This unprecedented expansion has led to several challenges regarding the quality of technical education. To ensure standards, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) established the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).

This thesis presents an analysis of the effectiveness of current accreditation mechanisms for undergraduate engineering programmes by NBA. Two models have been developed to overcome some limitations of NBA processes:

Three-Tier VED Model

Classifies programme characteristics into three groups: Vital, Essential, and Desirable (VED).

Weightages for these criteria were identified using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), based on expert opinions.

PROM Model

Derived from factor analysis of NBA variables.

Categorizes 19 factors into four groups: Process, Resource, Outcome, and Management (PROM).

Programme Analysis Performances of 160 undergraduate engineering programmes from autonomous, government, aided, and self-financing colleges across India were analyzed using the PROM model.

Impediments to quality improvement were identified and grouped as Stable, Semicritical, and Critical, based on interviews with 160 faculty members.

Key Conclusions The study highlights the need for a change in the current assessment methods.

Quality of education should be related directly to programme outcomes.

An Outcome-Based Student Competency Model was developed, based on three sets of competencies.

From these competencies, two sets of performance signatures can be created:

One set connected with students.

Another set connected with the programme.

These performance signatures can be used for effective assessment of undergraduate engineering programmes in India.