MHRD: NEETI – Single Engineering Entrance to be conducted by NTS in 2018

Identifying the need to improve the technical education in the country, the HRD ministry has since long been planning to launch a single entrance exam for engineering programmes. National Entrance Examination for Technical Institutions (NEETI) will soon be launched for engineering aspirants throughout India.

About NEETI:

• According to MHRD officials, NEETI will be the mandatory exam for admission to engineering programmes offered by technical institutes.
• It will be a computer-based exam conducted by National Testing Service (NTS). Since NTS is expected to be ready and functional by January 2018, NEETI will be the first exam conducted by NTS.
• NEETI will be conducted multiple times every year. The first slot will be scheduled for December 2017-January 2018, the second exam will be conducted in March 2018 and last in May 2018.

According to the reports of AICTE, over 60% of the eight lakh engineering graduates who have pursued education from technical institutions across India remain unemployed. Adding to the loss of 20 lakh man-days annually, less than 1% of the engineering students participate in summer internships.

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Adding to the falling standards, only 15% of the engineering courses offered by more than 3,200 institutes have been accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).

This has raised serious questions regarding the technical education in the country with engineering colleges producing unemployable graduates. The HRD Ministry has been trying to deal with these problems and raise the bar of technical education in the country.

Steps taken by the HRD to improve technical education:

• The ministry is planning to introduce a common NEETI from the session 2018.
• To improve the quality of education, annual teacher training will also be implemented as it is a must for approval of the institution.
• Other steps taken by the ministry include mandatory induction training for students enrolled at the institutions and annual revision of curriculum.

NTS will be responsible for conducting the exam, however, the exam paper will be set by the IITs. Other entrance exams including entrance test for IIT and NEET for medical programmes will also be conducted by NTS.

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The ministry also plans to enhance the employability of engineering graduates by providing them summer internship opportunities. The aim is to raise the employment bar from 40% to 75% so that more students can get industrial exposure.