The Hindu : RECs to be upgraded

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 28, 2002

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RECs to be upgraded

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 27. The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has decided to restructure the framework of the Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) and upgrade them to the status of the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) along the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Announcing this at a press conference here today, the Union HRD Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, said already 10 of the 17 RECs had been converted into NITs and granted `Deemed to be University' status. The 10 RECs which have been upgraded are: Allahabad, Bhopal, Calicut, Hamirpur, Jaipur, Kurukshetra, Nagpur, Rourkela, Surathkal and Silchar. The remaining seven RECs, he said, would be upgraded as and when the respective State Governments accept the Ministry's proposal.

The move to restructure the framework of RECswas done with a view to addressing the demand for scientific and technical manpower besides R&D personnel at the earliest and in the most cost-effective manner. ``Setting up an IIT can run into crores of rupees. Since the RECs already have the necessary infrastructure, upgrading them and allowing them autonomy through `Deemed to be University' status will improve the quality of their graduates.''

Though the NITs will now be brought under the Centre, the existing admission quota wherein 50 per cent of the seats are reserved for students hailing from the State, where a particular REC is located, will continue. And, like the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEEs) for admission to the IITs, an All-India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) will be conducted for admission to the NITs.

As a result of this upgradation, the earlier system of having the Minister of Technical Education of the respective States as REC chairman will be abandoned. Instead an ``eminent technologist/engineer/industrialist/educationist would be the chairman, who, apart from providing academic and administrative leadership will also provide its public face''. Also, each NIT will have a Board of Governors made up of eminent persons from the field of academics, industry or technology.

Though the NITs have been fashioned along the lines of the IITs, the Minister underlined the fact that they would not be in the same league. ``The IIT brand name will be protected. That is why admission to NITs will be done through the AIEEE and not the JEE.''

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