Summary
The university had dropped the clause amid Covid because many had lost their jobs during the lockdown, said a JU official
Jadavpur University has reintroduced a clause that states only working professionals would be allowed to enrol in the five-year evening engineering programme.
The university had dropped the clause amid Covid because many had lost their jobs during the lockdown, said a JU official.
The official said that as the pandemic is now past, they have reintroduced the clause mandating at least a one-year job experience for pursuing the evening engineering programmes.
He said the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), in its approval handbook for the academic
year 2023-24, has specified that an institution could run
an engineering programme in accordance with its convenience for working professionals only.
“Since the loss of jobs was on the rise during the pandemic, we did not insist on the clause that only working professionals could pursue the programme. But now that we have come out of that phase, the clause has been reinstated,” Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya, former pro-vice-chancellor of JU, told Metro on Sunday.
Bhattacharya, also a former dean of JU’s engineering and technology faculty, ended his four-year tenure as pro-VC on Sunday.
JU had in the early 1980s introduced the evening course in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering for working diploma holders.
The Telegraph had reported in May 2021 that thirty-four lakh salaried Indians lost their jobs in April of that year as small and medium enterprises struggled to survive, unable to withstand the Covid second wave at a time they had not fully recovered from the pandemic’s first wave.
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a private research group, the lockdowns and economic slowdown had devastated small enterprises, leading to the loss of jobs.
“Against such a backdrop we thought it would be ill-advised to continue the programme for working professionals only for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years. This year, we have resumed the old system,” said a JU official.
The AICTE’s approval handbook for the 2023-24 academic year states the diploma pass-out students are employed in various sectors of industry and “hence to facilitate such employed/ working professionals, the council has made a special provision by providing flexibility in timing to conduct theory and practical classes (even beyond office hours) so as to upgrade their skills and knowledge”.
Uncertainty arose on the continuance of the programme as the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), which regulates engineering education in the country, had said in an earlier approval handbook that only day-time engineering programmes would be recognised as regular courses.
Last updated on 01 Aug 2023
