The AICTE has begun orientation for undergraduate engineering courses to prepare students for professional education as they shift from school to higher education. The six-month programme will roll out in 100 colleges across the country including a few in Maharashtra, AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabuddhe told TOI on Sunday.

At the end of the six-month programme conducted during the first semester, students would be able to easily deal with academic pressures, time management, study habits and other related matters. Sahasrabuddhe said, "A variety of students join engineering courses with some undergoing a transition from rural to urban, school to college, vernacular language to English medium, among others. According to our past experiences, many face academic pressures or issues establishing a conversation with classmates or faculty members. There have been instances when many quit the course mid-way.To deal with this problem, we have designed a special programme in the first semester that would make the students ready."

The council is in the process of identifying the 100 colleges where the programme could be rolled out from 2017-18 academic year. It has plans to have at least two colleges in each state this year and then run it full-fledged from the 2018-19 academic year across the country. The AICTE had appointed a special committee to prepare the programme with experts from the industry.