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India has been a name synonymous with high-techengineering and technical education across the globe since decades. Theeducation related to engineering and technical arenas has beendeveloping faster than anywhere else on earth. Ever since the earlyeighties, the era of rapid industrialization and economic growth Indiawas recognized as a hub of some of the most hard-working andintelligent engineers of the world. Today, India boasts of itsposition as the second largest number of engineering students in theworld for all of which the medium of instruction is English. Inaccordance to the recent survey by the United Nations, the Indianeconomy is one of the fastest economies holding back 6th position andexpected to reach fourth position till the end of the century. With thelatest advancements made in the field of scientific, industrial andtechnological areas, chiefly in space, nuclear and missile technology,computer engineering and information science, India is emerging as thereckoned world power. "Engineering" is derived from Latin word"ingeniare" that stands for "to design" or "to create". Engineering isthe term that stands for application of scientific knowledge forpractical purposes such as engines, machines and structures. Thefoundation of engineering educations was done way back in the year1847, when Thomason College of Civil Engineering at Roorkee wasestablished which is today renowned as Roorkee University (1949). Itwas India's first engineering university and yes, the foundation ofstrong and steady journey of technical education in India. Furthermore,the establishment of the All-India Council of Technical Education in1945 and the report of the scientific manpower committee (1947) had anin-depth confluence in the overall development. The development ofengineering allied educational facilities has been unparalleled duringthe last decade. There are institutes offering varied threeyear diploma courses in diverse branches of engineering and technologyoffered by different polytechnics. The eligibility criteria forselection in these diploma courses, is to pass in class 10 examinationsclearly. There are many polytechnics that offer post 10+2 diplomas andpost-grad diplomas as well. Similarly the eligibility for admission inB.E (B.Tech) and B.Arch course is passing in 10+2 examination in thescience stream with mathematics. Coming to the apex portion ofengineering education, the post-graduate programmes led to a degree inM.E/M.Tech and M.Arch degree that comprises of duration of 18 monthsi.e three semesters. Candidates are required to pursue specializationin one of the subject of their study at the first degree level. Thenumber of engineering graduates has accelerated to 60,000 in the year1996. Similarly the number of polytechnic diploma holders increased to96,000 (approx.). This accelerating increase in the field ofengineering forced AICTE to ascertain the quality of education they areproviding to the future of not only India but the world. A NationalBoard of Accreditation (NBA) has been set-up to introduce a system ofaccreditation of each and every program offered by the recognizedinstitutions.
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