Hyderabad : Citing fund crunch, TS, AP colleges shy away from establishing AICTE-IDEA labs

Hyderabad : Lack of a meagre investment of Rs 55 lakh out of Rs 1.10 crore is deterring several government-run State universities and college campuses in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to take up the All India Council for Technical Education's Idea Development, Evaluation and Application (AICTE-IDEA ) lab.

The apex regulator of technical education, in a circular to the universities, said that it wanted to establish the AICTE-IDEA labs at the institutions approved by it for encouraging students to get hands-on experience by learning and doing.

It said that the labs are meant to provide all facilities under one roof for the conversion of an idea into a prototype. Also, the main focus was to establish facilities for more students and faculty to take up creative work and in the process get trained on creative thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and the like, which, the conventional labs cannot do.

That apart, the AICTE-IDEA labs are also meant to roll out about 14 components throughout the year to transform engineering education. Through the new labs training sessions for students would be organised. The labs are meant for teachers, students, industry, startups to come together for training, research and development, create projects, internships and convert ideas into prototypes, besides providing training to teachers of 10+2 institutions and also projects for students of Class 11 and 12.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU-H) said, "The scheme is open for the universities and colleges of 10 years old. Also, initially, preference is given to the places like Greater Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune and Surat."

However, the institutions should provide an exclusive 3,000 sq ft of built-up area and at least one of its courses should have NBA accreditation.

For each lab, the AICTE said it costs Rs 1.10 crore. Out of this, it would provide Rs 55 lakh and the remaining has to be raised by the educational institution, or several institutions can join hands under a lead institution accredited by NBA by sharing the costs.

It is an opportunity for the government-run institutions and the universities located in other than Hyderabad. When contacted, sources in the Kakatiya University and Mahatma Gandhi University in Telangana said that it has not come to their notice. Similar is the case with the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, (JNTU) located in Kakinada and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. Officials at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) at Basara in Telangana and Nuzividu in Andhra Pradesh said that the institutions lack funding.

When asked Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education chairman Prof K Hemachandra Reddy, he said funding was not a problem, but the current focus was on admissions. "Certainly we will make use of the scheme to establish the AICTE IDEA labs in the State," he said.