Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Post-graduation / M-Tech in Civil Engineering

First of all let us understand “why post-graduation or M-tech?” That question comes in everyone’s mind. After under-graduation, you feel exhausted but do you think you can survive with your degree, i.e., B-Tech in Civil Engineering. This is a competitive world where thousands of Civil Engineers graduating every year. I am sure you will fee lost after few years or you will be working in a field in which you are least interested. To show the world that you have an expertise in a particular field will require a degree at master level, if you don’t want to wait for years to gain experience and say that I am the person you are looking for. Post-graduation definitely helps in many ways:
  • get better packages, and easier promotions
  • adds value to your first degree and makes it easier to find your first job
  • helps you broaden your horizons and makes more effective at work
  • gives you the confidence needed to survive corporate level competition

So, it is clear that you need post-graduation degree. Now the next question comes, which one is the best institution / from where I should get my post-graduation. The obvious answer is any IITs but that requires qualification in GATE – 2016. Have you cleared GATE-2016 / even if you have qualified, could you get into IIT system?

If NO! , then what are other options?

If you are in Delhi-NCR region, you must be looking for a good private institution where you can enroll for M-tech program. Selection of a good institution in Delhi-NCR region was a difficult task where everyone advertises that they are the best. With NIRF-2016 ranking (MHRD initiative) released recently, it is no more a hurricane task to find a good institution in nearby region.  If you are located in Delhi-NCR and reading this blog, you are at the right place.

We are at The NorthCap University, Gurgaon with NIRF ranking 82nd among the top 100 universities in India competing with universities that are 100 to 150 years old.We proudly say that the NorthCap University, Gurgaon is the best private institution in Delhi-NCR. Definitely, we are young but ready for experimentation and innovation.

With these words, we at Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, NCU, Gurgaon,welcome you for your post-graduation program, i.e., M-Tech in Civil Engineering with option of achieving specialization in (i) Structural Engineering, (ii) Construction Engineering & Management.

Our admission just started. For details, visit our website www.ncuindia.edu

For any query, you can directly get in touch with the Head of the Department:

Dr. Amit Srivastava
BE (Roorkee), ME & PhD (IISc, Bangalore)
M.ASCE, MISSMGE, LMIGS, MIE(I), MITS, LMISRMTT
Associate Professor & Head, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
THE NORTHCAP UNIVERSITY, Gurgaon
Mobile: +91-9643015755

Engineering Colleges and the Washington Accord


Prof. S. Krishnamoorthi
Professor
Dept of Civil Engineering
The NorthCap University, Gurgaon

Hi, my dear engineering aspirants! Finally you have made the decision to get your degree in engineering. Definitely one or more factors like a natural gift, life improvements, family advice, peer teachers, social need, role models, and career fairs would have helped you to take the decision. I hope you do not belong to the category of students who are not interested to gain knowledge and skills but only in marks, degree or a job. If you are one of them, you may stop reading further. For the rest, thank you for reading on.

Let me first introduce you to the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and the Washington Accord (WA). The National Board of Accreditation (NBA), India is an autonomous body with the objective of Assurance of Quality in engineering degree programs offered by various engineering colleges through the mechanism of accreditation.

The Washington Accord is an international agreement among bodies responsible for accrediting engineering degree programs. It recognizes the substantial equivalency of programs accredited by those bodies and recommends that graduates of such accredited programs may become eligible for entry to the practice of engineering in member countries.

NBA, India has been a signatory (17th member) of the Washington Accord since 2014. After this, NBA has introduced a new process, parameters and criteria for accreditation engineering degree programs. These are in line with the best international practices and oriented to assess the outcomes of the program.

NBA has divided the engineering colleges in to two tiers. Tier 1 and Tier II. Tier I colleges are those with autonomy to review the content of curriculum and make changes as a result of recommendations from accreditation visits. Tier II colleges are those which are affiliated to a university and thus do not have academic freedom.

According to NBA, Tier I colleges only will be covered under Washington Accord and The NorthCap University (NCU) comes under Tier I.

Next I will highlight on the changing role of engineering colleges to meet out the challenges posed by the NBA and the WA. It is really a great challenge for engineering colleges to offer high quality undergraduate degree program in engineering under the new guidelines for accreditation. For getting accreditation by the NBA, every engineering college, for each of its undergraduate degree program in engineering, should have Program Educational Objectives(PEOs),Program Outcomes(POs),well-structured curriculum having courses in basic sciences, engineering arts and sciences, humanities, management, Program core, program elective, open elective and foreign language elective. Each course will have. Course Educational Objectives (CEOs) and Course Outcomes(COs),well qualified and experienced faculty and support staff to deliver the curriculum,, laboratory, computer and library infrastructure, pedagogy in teaching-learning process, evaluation system, industry interaction, involvement of stakeholders at various stages, facilities for co-curricular and extra- curricular activities, equal weightage for teaching and research and a system for assessment of attainment of the PEOs, POs and COs and to take corrective actions depending upon the result. It should be capable of developing technical knowledge, technical skills and soft skills (communication, personality, environmental and ethical).

Facilities should be provided for the students to develop their talents in co-curricular and extra- curricular activities. Students should be motivated to take part in National level design competitions and examinations like GATE.

To enhance the placement opportunities, students should be exposed to value added courses, up-dating of practical knowledge through industry interaction, specialized workshops and  pre-placement interview techniques.

The NorthCap University has not only everything that an engineering college should aspire towards striving to keep inspiring.

After six years of track record as a University, NCU has obtained 82nd rank out of 247 universities from all over India and secured top and only private university in Haryana and Delhi/NCR in the National Institutional Ranking Framework carried out by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India in 2016, in fact the only Private University in Top 100 in Delhi/NCR and Haryana.