Lateral entry for additional BTech degree to enhance job prospects

In a first-of-its-kind move, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has said that BTech students can take admission to other branches of Engineering, in addition to their main programme through lateral entry. This follows in the wake of requests from students for admission to an additional BTech course through lateral entry. On the basis of the proposal, the AICTE Executive Committee stated that technical universities can facilitate such students for taking admission to BTech /BE by enabling them to get admission at the appropriate level of BTech programme in another discipline/branch of Engineering.
Never any ban
Talking to Education Times, Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman, AICTE says, “This option already existed before, though there was not much awareness about it. For a long time, in the 1950s and 1960s, many Engineering students after completing their Mechanical BE, would subsequently do an Electrical BE in one year and vice versa. There were around 3-4 disciplines at that time, where pursuing an additional engineering degree was not unheard of. Thereafter, interest in acquiring an additional degree ceased though there was never any ban on it. Recently, many students wrote to us, stating that on completing their BTech in one stream, they were keen to do BTech in another stream, but then, why would they repeat the courses that they had already done in the first year of their BTech stream.”
Consequently, the AICTE has clarified that students do not need to study the courses they have already studied in their first discipline when they take admission to the additional programme. While being exempted from pursuing courses already done in the first discipline of the BTech programme, the students would need to be properly guided to complete other requirements of the second discipline.
Additional chance
Sahasrabudhe claims that if Diploma students can directly gain entry for Engineering programmes in the second year through lateral entry option, why should the same flexibility not be granted to BTech students as well. “There was never any rule disallowing the BTech students, though it is not compulsory for every student to pursue an additional programme. If students are inclined to spend more time, resources and the effort to pursue a second degree, they should be given this additional chance. Are students not pursuing dual and triple degrees, all at the same time?”
As per the Council, since there is a practical component involved in the additional programme, students will be required to take admission in an institution/college as a regular student and the concerned university will make necessary provision in their statutes accordingly.
On why the need for an additional BTech programme, Sahasrabudhe explains, “Many students, while enrolling for their first BTech degree, did not know where their interest lay. It is only after completion of the programme, they may have felt the need to specialise in another branch of Engineering.”
Better prospects
He says that the additional degree will “enhance their employability prospects and help them shift from one job to another very easily”. In this age of multidisciplinary education and flexible entries/exits as defined in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, such provisions will be to students’ advantage, he adds.
Programme duration
The duration of the additional programme will depend on the students’ choice of the branch. “If the courses in the additional branch are similar to the students’ first BTech programme, it may take two years to complete the additional programme, but when the domains are completely different, the additional degree maybe of three years duration,” Sahasrabudhe points out.
Deep dive into disciplines
Stressing that the lateral entry option will provide flexibility to students to learn different branches of engineering based on their need, as opposed to the hype that may have led them to their first BTech programme, Shekhar Sanyal, country head and director, The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) India says, “The complexity of the VUCA (Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity)/BANI (Brittle, anxious, non-linear and incomprehensible) workplace is such that it is now essential that engineers have a deep understanding of various disciplines. Not only that, in the future, we would need engineers to have a deep understanding of other domains as well. The best healthcare devices have been created through an intersection between Engineering and medical knowledge.”
The application of Engineering is no longer siloed, Sanyal reasons, adding, “Even building an apartment or house needs an amalgamation of Civil, Structural, Electrical, Materials Engineering. With larger and more complex projects in the workplace and industry, engineers with an understanding of two or more streams of Engineering will be more effective and valued in the workforce.”