Washington: The World Bank (WB) has approved a $ 250 million loan to India for improving technical engineering education in the country.

The amount is for the 'Technical/Engineering Quality Improvement Programme' approved on November 14, the Bank said in a release.

It will support engineering colleges, universities and polytechnics to achieve academic excellence and boost the quality of emerging professionals, the Bank said.

The project will be implemented in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh under the coordination of the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, it added.

The credit, from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessionary lending arm, has a 35-year maturity with a 10-year grace period and 0.75 per cent service charge.

About 20 well-performing engineering educational institutions will be selected as the lead institutions, and a further 60 to 80 institutions will be networked by the project, the World Bank release said.

This will impact over 1,00,000 students, approximately 10 per cent of the total number of students enrolled for engineering degrees in India.

A major share of the funding is for quality-enhancing activities, such as the introduction of teaching and research programmes in cutting-edge technologies, and the modernisation of existing projects and facilities.

All the selected institutions will be required to network with others and provide services to the local community.

"There is an urgent need to upgrade the quality of technical and engineering education in India to provide students with a virtuous cycle of opportunities," said Shashi Shrivastava, senior education specialist with the World Bank.

"In this cycle, good training leads to better jobs, better jobs lead to increased productivity and increased productivity leads to accelerated growth of the Indian economy which, in turn, impacts poverty reduction," he said.

PTI