AICTE kicks off mission to transform all engineering institutions into hybrid learning centres

The AICTE on Thursday, July 21 inaugurated a Hybrid Learning Workshop for the heads of 10,000 engineering institutions in the country. The workshop, conducted by educational tech-solutions provider, Tech Avant-Garde (TAG) is part of AICTE's goal to convert all engineering institutions approved by it into centres of hybrid learning.

The workshop will begin from July 29. Colleges, whose heads participate in the workshop, will be eligible for two sessions of hybrid learning which can be availed within two months of the programme, said TAG in a statement.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a sobering experience for educational institutions. Try as they might to convey that online learning continued, and the lockdown did not perturb the education of students, surveys ever since have narrated a different tale. According to the NSS 2018 survey, only 4.4% of rural Indian households had a computer and only 14% had access to the internet. 

Apart from the lack of access to digital learning infrastructure, what also contributed to the learning loss was the fact that higher education institutions found themselves in an unprecedented scenario where they had to shift to the online mode of education with no time to get things in place. A survey by IIT Kanpur revealed that 9.3% of its 2,789 students were not able to download material sent by the institute or study online.

Speaking at the launch event in Bengaluru, AICTE Chairman, Anil Sahasrabudhe said, "Building infrastructure is difficult, expensive and not feasible. We have to make the best of existing resources. The best way to reach every nook and cranny is hybrid/digital learning. The essential guidelines for hybrid learning will be rolled out soon for the institutions."

Last month, the AICTE issued a circular to all Higher Education institutions urging the adoption of hybrid learning systems so that technical colleges are prepared to handle the trysts of online learning, and ensure education is uninterrupted for students. 

To this effect, the AICTE had initiated the process of transforming all engineering institutions approved by it into centres of hybrid learning. AICTE harnessed the support of educational tech-solutions provider, Tech Avant-Garde in order to create a hybrid learning ecosystem that is "lockdown-proof."

Elaborating on the importance of the Hybrid Learning ecosystem, Dr Buddha Chandrashekhar, Chief Coordinating Officer, AICTE, said, "Hybrid Learning helps our institutions reach foreign students as well. The hybrid model requires less investment but has a higher return on investment."

This project is being implemented under the National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR), which was envisioned in the NEP in order to create a digital learning infrastructure in the country.