AICTE-Margdarshan scheme

Description
Margdarshan Initiative has been introduced by All India Council for Technical Education in 2018 for facilitating the technical institutes in order to improve the quality of technical education as a whole through accreditation by providing access to the facilities available in host institute.This Initiative is a facilitative mechanism that aims to foster & augment the support ecosystem in the Institutes approved by AICTE for enhancing their quality across all domains. Margdarshan Institute or Mentor Institute MI : A well-established AICTE approved institute/Centrally Funded Institutes such as IITs/ NITs /IIITS/IISc/ISERs/IIMs etc. referred to as Margdarshan Institute or Mentor Institute MI is supported with an objective to mentor up to 10 nearby institutes in achieving accreditation. Mentee Beneficiary Institute MBI : A mentee beneficiary institute MBI shall be facilitated by the MI by sharing the best practices, guidance for initiating project proposals, achieving outcome based education and other related aspect. The MBI should be located within a reasonable distance of MI approximately 200 km . The MI shall be required to submit a list of potential MBIs limited to 10 institutes while submitting the application. It may be noted that the participation of an institute to receive mentoring by an MI is purely on voluntary basis. On confirmation of the nomination as MI from AICTE, an MoU shall be executed between the MI and the respective associated MBIs. The Council does not approve of any sort of financial transaction or effect accruing out of such MOU. General terms and conditions of MOUs may be mutually decided between the MI and respective MBIs. In addition, MOU should mandatorily contain undertaking from respective MBIs stating that: - They have never been enrolled as MIs by AICTE. - They have never been mapped as MBI with any other MI. - None of their programs were accredited in the past ten years. Prerequisites: An institute seeking MI status must carry out an initial assessment of MBI to ascertain the threshold of host institute for getting accreditation check of basic parameters such as admissions/enrolment for last three years, faculty, infrastructure etc. . Selecting a MBI without having adequate potential shall be a futile exercise. MIs have to submit present status of the department-wise approved intake, enrolled admissions and present accreditation status of all the proposed MBIs.

Exclusions
• AICTE approved institutions having break in extension of approval or no admission in the institute for any reason, whatsoever, in the last 10 years shall not be considered.
• An institution cannot submit more than one project proposal for MI scheme.
• Department wise nomination is not acceptable.
• An institute having common management/board/parent trust will not be eligible for MI if another institute under the same parental control is already functioning as MI.
• The proposals of institutes having only UG courses accredited shall not be considered for mentoring of MBIs seeking accreditation of PG programs.
• Any institute functioning under the same board/management/ trust as that of MI is not permitted for adoption as MBI under the scheme.

Benefits
• The Council has made provisions of a token grant in aid of ₹ 3,00,000/- per MBI. Hence a maximum ₹ 30,00,000/- can be sanctioned to an MI for conducting activities under the Margdarshan Scheme for 10 MBIs altogether.
• Suitable honorarium to staff (Chief Coordinator, supporting persons, etc.) engaged in running the scheme. Such expenditure should be booked under the Heads 'Honorarium for MI Staff'. The maximum honorarium shall, however, be limited to 4% of the overall grant as allotted.
• Note: It is clarified that overall expenditure shall not exceed the funds sanctioned/ allotted to the MI. No reimbursement shall be made for expenditure exceeding the given amount.
• All activities should be mutually coordinated between the MIs and the associated MBIs to derive maximum benefi and for the betterment of the MBIs to a standard for seeking accreditation. A suggested list of activities is as follows:
• General:
• Workshop on Accreditation process, SWOT analysis for MBIs.
• FDPs/ Workshop on generation & submission of infrastructure project through various state/ central schemes.
• Workshop on Promoting Research, Consultancy, Industrial Projects etc.
• Guest lectures on Faculty motivation
• Institutional visit at MI or other Accredited institutes
• Benchmarking exercise with discussion on programme/department wise target for achieving Accreditation.
• Guest lectures on Innovation, start-up & entrepreneurship environment for faculty and students.
• Workshops on modifications of curriculum, new teaching- learning process etc that aids in OBE.
• Mapping of the activities with the Graduate Aptitudes must be clearly done.
• Workshops on various initiatives of AICTE for spreading awareness for better development of institution, faculty and students.
• FDPs/ Workshops on parameters of NIRF ranking.
• Institutional Reforms:
• Implementation of curricular reforms and development.
• Improve student performance and evaluation.
• Implement performance appraisal of faculty by students.
• Facilitating Guest/Special lectures.
• Assisting institute to organise faculty development programmes.
• Research interaction and innovation with faculty & students.
• Focus on Technical and life skill encouragement.
• Assist faculty in enhancing Outcome based education.
• Quality Improvement:
• Improving student learning.
• Improving student employability.
• Increasing faculty productivity and motivation through professional development.
• Increase in the average score of students participating in tests designed to measure technical and critical thinking skills.
• Percentage of sanctioned faculty positions in participating institutions submitted by regular or contract faculty as per AICTE norms.
• Increase in number of Faculty Trained in either their subject domain, pedagogy or management.
• Participation of institutes in newly designed research-hub related activities.
• Increase in average satisfaction level of the Student, Staff and Faculty.

Eligibility Criteria
1. > **For Margdarshan Institute or Mentor Institute(MI):**
2. - The institution, i.e. university, institute, college should have been approved by AICTE. AICTE approval is not mandatory in case of Central Funded Institutions wherever applicable.
3. - In case of AICTE approved institutions, MI must have got accreditation for consideration under the scheme. The Accreditation status for such programs should be valid for at least 6 moths from the date submission of the proposal.
4. - **Institutions with other programmes:** AICTE approved institutions other than those of engineering like Management, Hotel Management, the accreditation status should be valid for at least 6 months from the date of making the application. - **Institutions with Diploma Courses:** An institute exclusively running the diploma courses can also submit the proposal for MI. There should be minimum four diploma courses running in the institute with valid accreditation status for at least 6 months from the date of making the application.> **For Mentee Beneficiary Institute (MBI):**
5. - Only AICTE approved institutes are eligible to receive mentoring from MIs.
6. - They have never been enrolled as Mls by AICTE.
7. - They have never been mapped as MBI with any other MI.
8. - None of their programs were accredited in the past ten years.
9. <br>

Required Documents
• Basic Details of the institute
• Number of MBIs proposed in the etailed Project Report (DPR)
• Consent of all MBIs proposed in DPR
• Programme wise (Diploma/UG/PG) Pre-Qualifiers for each MBI
• Self-undertaking enclosed
• Details of Proposed Activities enclosed
• Mandate form

Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is Margdarshan scheme?
A: Margdarshan Initiative has been introduced by All India Council for Technical Education for facilitating the technical institutes in order to improve the quality of technical education as a whole through accreditation by providing access to the facilities available in host institute.

Q: Who manages this scheme?
A: This scheme is managed by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Q: When this scheme was been introduced?
A: Margdarshan scheme was introduced in 2018.

Q: What is the main objective of this scheme?
A: Margdarshan Initiative intends to improve the quality of technical education as a whole through accreditation by providing access to the facilities available in host institute, spread awareness about various initiative of AICTE and also provide guidance and support for achieving better NIRF ranking.

Q: What is Margdarshan institute?
A: A well-established AICTE approved institute/Centrally Funded Institutes such as IITs/NITs /IIITS/IISc/ISERs/IIMs etc. referred to as Margdarshan Institute or Mentor Institute(MI).These institutes are supported with an objective to mentor up to 10 nearby institutes in achieving accreditation.

Q: What is Mentee Beneficiary Institute (MBI)?
A: A mentee beneficiary institute (MBI) shall be facilitated by the MI by sharing the best practices, guidance for initiating project proposals, achieving outcome based education and other related aspect.

Q: Who are the targeted beneficiaries under this scheme?
A: Margdarshan Institute or Mentor Institute(MI) and Mentee Beneficiary Institute (MBI) both are the beneficiaries.

Q: What should be the criteria for the Margdarshan Institute or Mentor Institute(MI)?
A: The institution, i.e. university, institute, college should have been approved by AICTE. AICTE approval is not mandatory in case of Central Funded Institutions wherever applicable

Q: What should be the criteria for the Mentee Beneficiary Institute (MBI)?
A: Only AICTE approved institutes are eligible to receive mentoring from MIs. Institutes approved by other regulatory bodies such as PCI, CoA etc. are thus not eligible.

Q: Maximum how many MBIs can be taken up by an MI for mentoring?
A: An MI Shall be allowed to function with maximum of 10 MBIs.

Q: What is the tenure of nomination of MI?
A: The duration of the nomination as MI along with necessary grant shall be for a period of three years.

Q: What is the main benefit for the MIs?
A: The Council has made provisions of a token grant in aid of [?] 3,00,000/- MBI. Hence a maximum [?] 30,00,000/- can be sanctioned to an MI for conducting activities under the Margdarshan Scheme for 10 MBIs altogether.

Q: What is the main benefit for the MBIs?
A: The MIs can encourage MBIs to organize activities at their respective institutes with resource person(s) invited from MI to deliver the contents.