The new Chairman of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Prof T G Sitharam is trying to introduce new things in the technical education, one of which is improving employability factor. He is not only trying to strengthen industry-institute linkage, but also inviting companies with job prospects for engineering students.

The placement portal he is creating evoked response from over 500 companies, he informed. These companies will put their job requirements on display so that students can approach them. “Industry needs readymade product as the age of training degree holders is a passe. We have started strengthening industry-institute connect. Colleges have been asked to have compulsory internship to make them familiar with the work. We are also asking technical institutions to hire Professors of Practice, which means persons from the industry would come and teach the students. Their experience will help students get closer to the industry,” Prof T G Sitharam, who worked as Director of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, said.

Prof Sitharam was speaking to the mediapersons after the 110th convocation of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) held on Thursday. Prof Sitharam delivered the convocation address. Replying to the question regarding vacancies in engineering colleges across India, Prof Sitharam said, “The seat vacancies are only in branches like Civil, Mechanical etc. Other courses have lot of takers. The emerging courses like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) are making difference. There are lot of job opportunities in the branches of emerging areas.”