With a view to encourage more students to take up doctoral programmes in engineering and pharmacy, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided to increase the number of post graduate (PG) seats by 25-30% from 2012-13. Almost 30,000 seats are set to be added to the current in 800 PG engineering and pharmacy institutes by 2013. At present, there are close to 100,000 seats in post graduation in engineering and pharmacy in India.
?We will focus on PG education in 2012-13 and plan to add 30 seats in all PG programmes from the current 18-25 seats. This increased number will incentivise students and also teachers with only a BTech degree to enroll in post graduation,? AICTE chairman S S Mantha told FE.
The move is significant because of the 4.5 lakh faculty who teach PG courses in engineering and pharmacy, 1.5 lakh are BTech graduates and this will allow them to study further, added Mantha. Moreover, it is in line with the government?s plan of increasing the research output of the country.
In 2010-11, at the PG level, there were 41,481 seats in engineering and 19,529 seats in pharmacy in AICTE approved institutions.
The council added a similar number of seats last year and the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) too had allowed PG institutes up to two courses or programmes at any level per shift besides additional 60 seats for lateral entry of diploma holders in degree programmes in engineering.
Every year, about 13 lakh students in India join the undergraduate programme in engineering, known as bachelor of technology (BTech). Out of them, 100,000 pursue their masters in technology (MTech), of which eventually only 30,000 go on to complete the course. There are 5,000 engineering PhDs.
