Cuttack, Jan. 13: The Odisha Private Engineering College Association (Opeca) has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring in "one country, one examination" concept for admission to B.Tech programmes following the MBBS admission route.
"We met the Union minister for human resource development on Wednesday and discussed the issue while handing over a copy of a letter addressed to the Prime Minister. He assured that our demands will be looked into," Opeca secretary Binod Dash told The Telegraph today.
Following a Supreme Court ruling, one country, one examination - NEET - has been introduced for medical courses from this year.
"By this step, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has ensured a level playing field in medical education and implemented merit-based transparent and non-exploitative admission to MBBS course," Dash said. In its memorandum to the Prime Minister, Opeca - the umbrella organisation for self-financed private engineering colleges of the state - demanded adoption of the same concept in case of engineering programmes as well.
There is already an All-India Engineering Entrance Examination - JEE (Main) for admission into B.Tech courses. But, it is not compulsory for the aspirants. Various deemed universities, private universities and state-run universities conduct their own examination and admit students "as per their own will".
"They admit students beyond their approved intake capacity. Though we have repeatedly taken up the issue with the state government, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), none have responded positively. They state government and the AICTE have taken the plea that only the UGC can interfere and take action against these universities. The UGC, on the other hand, does not take any action," said another senior official of the Opeca.
"Due to such lacunae in the law, various deemed universities, private universities and state-run universities are also admitting non-JEE candidates on basis of Plus Two examination marks, which is against the eligibility criteria notified by AICTE," an Opeca member said.
In the memorandum, the Opeca secretary also demanded allotment of registration numbers to engineering graduates by the AICTE as in the case of MBBS. "This procedure of allotting registration number to the engineering graduates will help us to know the exact number of B.Tech graduates and total number of engineers in the country," Dash said.
Opeca believes that if implemented, the one country, one entrance policy will also stop unethical practices in the engineering degree admission process of various colleges and universities. "This will bring all technical institutions within the country under one umbrella and remove the duality of control between the AICTE and the UGC that has led to many impediments in bringing about a level-playing field among the affiliated technical institutions, deemed universities, state universities, university constituent colleges, on the other," said Opeca.
