MP PET, Counselling to be Held on Time: Sharma

Bhopal  —  Technical Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma Thursday said the state government will conduct admission tests and counseling in a timely manner to fillip the quality of technical education in Madhya Pradesh.

The minister was addressing a workshop on ‘excellence in private professional colleges not availing government grant’ at the Oriental Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) in the state capital.

Pledging the utmost cooperation to engineering colleges in their efforts for qualitative education, Sharma said the dates for the Pre-Engineering Test (PET) in the state have been set for April 2010 and added that a decision to commence the counseling process in July, would be taken after consultations.

He said necessary amendments will be brought to the existing rules keeping in mind interests of both students and the institutions.

Noting the fast growth in technical education in the state, the minister said that institutions should place an impetus on providing quality education to the students as such efforts would go a long way in attracting a greater number of students to the state.

Drawing attention to the social contribution desired of the institutions, Sharma said colleges should adopt villages and work there to develop them as models of technical progress.

He also stressed on the need to impart students with moral education along with technical skills as such all-round training will help students perform better and with clean behavior once the step into the professional world.

The minister described skill development among youth as a top priority and informed the attendees of the recent decision to constitute a Skill Development Mission under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

He also suggested the colleges to organize a get-together of engineering students from the state who are now working on foreign shores.

Speaking on the occasion, Fees Regulatory Committee chairman PL Chaturvedi said the workshop was organised with a vision to heighten the quality of education in engineering colleges, mobilising additional financial resources and ensuring improvement in academic quality in coordination with the industry.

President of the Association of Professional Institutes Sunil Bansal informed that private engineering colleges have invested Rs 5000 crore in the state. As many as 11700 graduating from these institutions are employed in foreign countries.

Expressing gratitude toward the minister for the initiative to hold admission tests and counselling on time, Bansal also listed the problems faced by private engineering colleges and appealed for their solution.

In his address, Vice-chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, Prof. Piyush Chaturvedi, informed of an agreement inked with the Information Technology giant Wipro to improve the standard of instruction. He said as per the agreement training will be provided to nearly one thousand teachers in the state.

He added that Excellence Centres will be established in the state with the cooperation of IBM and said the university library and other resources will soon be shared with colleges.

The workshop, jointly organized by the Admission and Fees Regulatory Committee and Association of Professional Institutes, Madhya Pradesh, commenced with recitation of Vande Matram and concluded with the National Anthem.