An initiative called Project for Advancing Critical Thinking Industry Connect and Employability (PRACTICE) was launched by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The project will improve teaching at 1,000 engineering colleges in smaller cities to help students get jobs. This is expected to benefit more than 5 lakh students and 10,000 teachers in both government and private colleges.
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Officials say the project will use several methods to help students. It will include:
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Project-based learning and bootcamps.
Training for over 10,000 teachers.
Support for innovation at colleges. The project will also focus on building stronger connections with industries through internships, teaching soft skills, and creating a network of mentors for guidance.
The PRACTICE initiative is a new program that will help train the next generation of Indian engineers. Its goal is to make them more skilled, employable, and innovative.
The program will be implemented in three stages between 2025 and 2028:
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Phase 1: 200 colleges
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Phase 2: 300 colleges
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Phase 3: 500 colleges
This initiative is a partnership between the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and several organizations:
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CRISP: A policy think tank.
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LEAP: An IIT Madras program that focuses on hands-on engineering education.
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Maker Bhavan Foundation: A US-based nonprofit that supports STEM education in India.
The total cost for the program is about ₹23.31 crore, with AICTE and its partners each contributing half of the funds.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the government of India is dedicated to making sure everyone can get a good technical education, following the new National Education Policy (2020). He shared this in a video message during the launch of the new PRACTICE initiative on Engineer's Day 2025.
Over 3 million students attend more than 5,800 engineering and diploma colleges that are part of the AICTE network.
AICTE chairman T. G. Sitharam said that only a quarter of engineering colleges in smaller cities and towns have connections with businesses.
Despite having one of the world's largest networks of engineering colleges, only about half of our graduates are ready for modern jobs. The new PRACTICE initiative will fix this by connecting colleges with companies, training teachers, and improving teaching methods. The program will focus on project-based learning and strengthening the link between schools and businesses, especially at colleges that have a lot of potential but haven't used it yet.
R. Subrahmanyam, the founder and CEO of CRISP, explained that the PRACTICE initiative will mainly focus on colleges that aren't considered top-tier and are often overlooked. He said the goal is to help these colleges improve, grow, and become a part of the mainstream of quality technical education and innovation.
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