US may open up for engineers

Membership of the Washington Accord to preclude screening process

Engineering graduates, even if they are not IIT pass-outs, may not any more be subjected to extra screening for placements in developed countries.

This is being made possible by the national board of accreditation (NBA), which has initiated a process to make India a member of the Washington Accord (WA).

The accord, signed by eight countries in 1989, ensures engineers from member countries be treated at par in terms of screening procedures.

India will be represented by NBA Chairman and Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad Director Bokul Dholakia at a meeting of the WA member countries, to be held in Hong Kong on June 15. Dholakia has played a pivotal role in persuading WA to make India a member.

Eight countries"" the USA, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Hong Kong and Ireland""are the founder members of WA. Japan, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia are provisional members.

This comes after a visit of a high-level WA team to India recently. The team reportedly expressed satisfaction at the way NBA handled the accreditation process of engineering institutes.

"In Hong Kong, NBA will make its best attempt to promote Indian engineering education," Dholakia told Business Standard.

"We are now trying to become a provisional member, which will pave the way to making India a regular member later," said Dholakia.

According to WA norms, the admission of new signatories requires the unanimous approval of existing members. Besides, a new member has to have a provisional status for a prescribed period of time, during which the track record and performance of the applicant are reviewed.

Those applying for a provisional status must be nominated by two full members of the WA. An applicant's candidature has to be cleared by at least two-thirds of the existing members.

Terms for clearance

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• The accord, signed by eight countries in 1989, ensures engineers from member countries be treated at par in terms of screening procedures
• According to WA norms, the admission of new signatories requires the unanimous approval of existing members
• Those applying for a provisional status must be nominated by two full members of the WA
• India will be represented by national board of accreditation Chairman and IIM-A Director B Dholakia