The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) REPORT NO.: RES46002 RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT III APPROVED ON JUNE 24, 2016 TO INDIA EDUCATION SOUTH ASIA Regional Vice President: Hartwig Schafer Country Director: Junaid Kamal Ahmad Regional Director: Lynne D. Sherburne-Benz Practice Manager/Manager: Mario Cristian Aedo Inostroza Task Team Leader(s): Namrata Raman Tognatta The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AICTE All India Council for Technical Education AM Aide Memoire ATU Affiliating Technical University CFI Centrally funded institutions DBT Direct Benefit Transfer DEA Department of Economic Affairs (Ministry of Finance) DLI Disbursement-Linked Indicator IP Implementation Progress ISR Implementation Status Report JRM Joint Review Mission KPI Key Performance Indicator MoE Ministry of Education MTR Mid-term Review NBA National Board of Accreditation NPIU National Project Implementation Unit PBC Performance Based Condition PDO Project Development Objective PIP Project Implementation Plan RF Results Framework SC Scheduled Caste ST Scheduled Tribe TEQIP III Technical Engineering Educational Quality Improvement Project III TPRM Tripartite Project Review meeting The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) Note to Task Teams: The following sections are system generated and can only be edited online in the Portal. BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P154523 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 24-Jun-2016 31-Mar-2021 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency India Ministry of Human Resource Development Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The proposed project development objective (PDO) is "to enhance quality and equity in participating engineering education institutes and improve the efficiency of the engineering education system in focus states". Current PDO The proposed project development objective (PDO) is "to enhance quality and equity in participating engineering education institutes and improve the efficiency of the engineering education system in focus states". OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions) Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IDA-58740 24-Jun-2016 01-Feb-2017 03-Mar-2017 31-Mar-2021 176.34 139.46 36.88 The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No Note to Task Teams: End of system generated content, document is editable from here. I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING 1. Background: The project was approved by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on June 24, 2016. The Financing Agreement was signed on February 1, 2017 and the project became effective on March 3, 2017. The project has been restructured four times since effectiveness. In June 2018, the restructuring focused on better alignment of DLIs with project activities; in February 2020, US$14.53 million was cancelled from the credit proceeds and the cost of components was modified based on savings in consultancies under Component 2 and additional activities in Component 1; in June 2020, at the request of the Government of India (GoI), US$10.63 million accumulated in savings from exchange rate fluctuation was cancelled; and in September 2020, the restructuring entailed a no-cost extension of the project closing date by 6-months. 2. The project has two components – Component 1 is financed based on achievement of results using an IPF with DLIs modality. Expenditures on Component 2 are reimbursed based on Statements of Expenditures for non-DLI based activities, project management and monitoring and evaluation. The main thrust of Component 1 is improving the quality of and equity in engineering institutes in focus states. Activities include student and faculty development programs and institutional development, including through twinning partnerships between focus state institutes (including affiliated technical universities) and institutes in non-focus states. Component 2 focuses on supporting the Ministry of Education (MoE) and apex bodies in engineering education (AICTE and NBA) to improve governance, management and accountability in the sector. Activities under this Component include student learning assessment, employer and beneficiary feedback surveys, collaborative research grants scheme, faculty feasibility study and digital reforms in project institutions. 3. Status of the project: A virtual Joint Review Mission (JRM) was held from December 2 to 4, 2020. The project is rated Satisfactory for progress against Project Development Objective (PDO) and Implementation Progress (IP). The PDO is assessed based on the following key performance indicators (KPIs) the most recent status of which is as shown below (targets are in parentheses). a. Average score of students participating in tests designed to measure technical and critical thinking skills – The 2nd round of the test was completed, and an increase of 5.99 percent over baseline was achieved. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is developing a new student skills assessment covering all engineering disciplines planned for administration across 1000 engineering colleges in July to September 2021. The end of The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) project (EoP) target for this PDO indicator will be revised as discussed in Section II below. (EoP target: 5 percent increase in student skills over baseline and large-scale test of student skills in various engineering disciplines administered) b. National Board of Accreditaton (NBA) accredited and/or applied for programs in participating institutes (Undergraduate (UG) programs in focus states and other states) – 53.8% accredited UG programs in focus states, 59.8% accredited UG programs in non-focus states (EoP targets: 50%, 33%) c. Percentage of students from traditionally disadvantaged groups in total enrolment in participating institutes (Disaggregated by SC/ST groups and gender) – 19% for SC/ST students, 28% for women (EoP targets: 20%, 30%) d. Transition rate of UG engineering students from the first year to second year in participating institutes (Disaggregated by SC/ST groups and gender in focus states) – 71% for SC/ST students, 84% for women (EoP targets: 50%, 55%). 4. Implementation Status: Implementation of project activities in the last year has been slow. This is mainly due to two reasons – (i) closure of institutions as directed by the Government to prevent spread of COVID-19, and (ii) change in the procurement framework mid-way through the project. While institutions continue to be closed, they have made efforts to transition to online or alternate forms for delivering teaching-learning and student services. The digital reforms that were initiated under the project before the pandemic have helped institutes transition online and access e-content relevant to engineering disciplines. This was in part aided by the mapping exercise supported by the project that linked available e-content to engineering curricula and rated available content for quality and relevance. Changes to procurement norms and methods initiated by the Ministry of Education required updating the procurement manual, ensuring project institutions had access to the online procurement system and training project institutions on procurement-related changes. As a result, procurement activities were delayed for several months in the last year. Despite these challenges, the project has disbursed US$ 36 million since June 2020. The project has achieved all DLI targets for the final year. Evidence on the achievement of DLIs has been reviewed by the Bank and found to be satisfactory. The project has disbursed against three out of five DLIs for the final year. The project has not yet disbursed against DLI1 (Accreditation) and DLI2 (Autonomy), with a value of US$ 20m million and US$ 15 million each, as the project is yet to incur sufficient expenditures to claim reimbursement against achievement of targets for these DLIs. Disbursement on DLI2 is expected in May 2021 and in September 2021 for DLI1. 5. Rationale for Restructuring: Project institutions have been closed for nearly a year due to the ongoing pandemic. As a result, academic activities supported under the project (such as twinning activities, workshops and training programs for students and faculty, research-related activities, and quality improvement initiatives per the AICTE mandate) have been considerably delayed. Consequently, the pace of expenditures under the project has slowed down. Changes to procurement processes also delayed timely completion of procurement under the project and conduct of various studies under Component 2. As the lockdown lifted, spending continued to be low due to expenditure thresholds set by the Government of India. Considering these implementation challenges and resulting delays in completing critical project activities, the MoE has requested GoI for a 6-month extension of the closing date. The expenditure thresholds have since been relaxed. The extended period will enable project institutes to increase utilization of funds under The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) existing activities/quality initiatives. The additional implementation time will particularly benefit (i) development and administration of the student skills assessment being taken forward by AICTE, (ii) digital reforms initiated under the project (including the delivery of digital boards, digital pedagogy training and Future Skills training and assessments for faculty and students, and implementation of ERP systems), (iii)project evaluation tasks like the employer feedback survey, and (iv) completion of projects funded under the collaborative research scheme. 6. The proposed extension will allow for full utilization of financing to further improve performance on development objectives, including meeting targets by the end of the proposed extension period. Adoption of these steps to increase disbursement rates would also result in improved FM. II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES 7. The present restructuring extends the closing date of the project by 6 months from March 31, 2021 to September 30, 2021. 8. Two changes are proposed to the project Results Framework as part of the restructuring – (i) the year 5 target for PDO1 will be dropped and the end of project target will be modified, and (ii) the end of project target date for indicators in the Results Framework is updated to coincide with the closing date. 9. PDO indicator #1 includes piloting a low-stakes assessment of engineering student skills under the project. The AICTE, in partnership with Stanford University, has completed 2 rounds of the student assessment under the pilot. The 1st round of the assessment established the baseline and the 2nd round measured improvement in student skills. The project has met the target for improvement in student skills as measured in the 2nd round of the assessment. As noted above, the AICTE will carry forward assessment of student skills in engineering. To carry forward the assessment program, a student learning assessment team has been set up at AICTE and completed a series of training workshops (in December 2020) covering all aspects of the assessment program - test development and scoring, sampling and questionnaire design, survey/test implementation, data cleaning and data analysis and policy-relevant research. The AICTE will draw on experiences and lessons from the pilot/previous two rounds of the assessment and scale up the assessment in the next round. The assessment will cover 1,000 engineering colleges, 20 times more than the number of colleges reached in the previous two rounds, and assess skills in all engineering colleges disciplines, expanding beyond computing and electrical engineering related disciplines covered in the pilot. The larger scope and scale require new test instruments (these are currently under development), including in disciplines not tested in the previous rounds. The scores from these new tests will therefore not be comparable to previous rounds. The Year 5 target will be dropped, and the end of project target will be modified to reflect the expanded scope and scale of the next round of assessment. The changes are shown in the table below. The Project Implementation Plan (PIP) will be revised to reflect the updated Results Framework. 10. There is no change to DLIs or to disbursement estimates, they remain the same. Table 1: Summary of and rationale for proposed change to the Results Framework (RF) The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) Indicator Indicator Indicator Proposed Change Rationale No. Type The AICTE will carry forward assessments The Year 5 target will be dropped. of student skills in engineering on a larger The end of project target will be scale i.e. covering more colleges and more modified as shown below – engineering disciplines than those Average score of covered in the previous two rounds, using students Current target: the capacity developed in and experience participating in tests Test administered for third time and 5 in implementing such tests. New test PDO 1 PDO percent increase over previous cycle designed to measure instruments are under development for technical and critical this purpose and will not be comparable thinking skills Proposed modification: to the test instrument used in previous A 5 percent increase in student skills rounds. The EoP target in the Results over baseline and large-scale test of Framework is modified to reflect this student skills in engineering expanded scope and scale of the student administered skills assessment. III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Not Changed Results Framework ✔ Loan Closing Date(s) ✔ Implementing Agency ✔ DDO Status ✔ Project's Development Objectives ✔ PBCs ✔ Components and Cost ✔ Cancellations Proposed ✔ Reallocation between Disbursement Categories ✔ Disbursements Arrangements ✔ Disbursement Estimates ✔ Overall Risk Rating ✔ The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) Safeguard Policies Triggered ✔ EA category ✔ Legal Covenants ✔ Institutional Arrangements ✔ Financial Management ✔ Procurement ✔ Implementation Schedule ✔ Other Change(s) ✔ Economic and Financial Analysis ✔ Technical Analysis ✔ Social Analysis ✔ Environmental Analysis ✔ IV. DETAILED CHANGE(S) OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_LOANCLOSING_TABLE LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline Ln/Cr/Tf Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications IDA-58740 Effective 30-Sep-2020 31-Mar-2021 30-Sep-2021 30-Jan-2022 . The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) . Results framework COUNTRY: India Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III Project Development Objectives(s) The proposed project development objective (PDO) is "to enhance quality and equity in participating engineering education institutes and improve the efficiency of the engineering education system in focus states". Project Development Objective Indicators by Objectives/ Outcomes RESULT_FRAME_TBL_PDO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 6 Enhance quality and equity in participating engineering education institutes Average score of A 5 percent increase No target as the Test administered students participating in Test administered in student skills over test will be for second time tests designed to for first time and baseline and large- n.a. designed and and 5 percent measure technical and baseline scale test of student piloted during this increase over critical thinking skills established skills in engineering period baseline (Text) administered Action: This indicator has been Revised a) Focus States UG (a) Focus States a) Focus States (a) Focus States (a) Focus States (a) Focus States (a) Focus States a) Focus States -Applied and -Applied and - Applied and - Applied and -Applied and -Applied and -Applied and NBA-accredited and/ or -Applied and accredited: 10 accredited: 2 Accredited: 10 Accredited: 25 accredited: 40 accredited: 40 accredited: 40 applied for programs in accredited: 40 Other States Other States Other States Other States Other States Other States Other States participating institutes. Other States -Accredited: 17.8 -Accredited: 1 -Accredited: 4 -Accredited: 8 -Accredited:15 -Accredited: 15 -Accredited: 15 Indicator will track -Accredited: 15 increase in percentage points (Text) (b) Focus States PG (b) Focus States - (b) Focus States (b) Focus States (b) Focus States (b) Focus States (b) Focus States -Applied and Applied and -Applied and -Applied and -Applied and -Applied and -Applied and accredited: 4 accredited: 2 accredited: 5 accredited: 15 accredited: 20 accredited: 20 accredited: 20 The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_PDO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 6 Other States Other States Other States Other States Other States Other States Other States (b) Focus States Accredited: 8.2 Accredited: 1 Accredited: 5 Accredited: 8 Accredited: 15 Accredited: 15 Accredited: 15 -Applied and accredited: 20 Other States Accredited: 15 Action: This indicator has been Revised Percentage of students from traditionally disadvantaged groups in SC/ST:15 SC/ST: 16 SC/ST:17 SC/ST:18 SC/ST: 20 SC/ST:20 SC/ST:20 SC/ST:20 total enrolment in Women: 26 Women: 26.5 Women: 27 Women: 28 Women: 30 Women: 30 Women: 30 Women: 30 participating institutes (a) SC/ST (b) Women (Text) Action: This indicator has been Revised Improve the efficiency of the engineering education system Focus States-All: Focus States Focus States Focus States Focus States Focus States Focus States Transition rate of UG 50 -All: 51 -All: 53 -All: 55 -All: 60 -All: 60 -All: 60 engineering students from the first year to -SC/ST: 40 -SC/ST: 41 -SC/ST: 43 -SC/ST: 45 -SC/ST: 50 -SC/ST: 50 -SC/ST: 50 second year in -Female: 45 -Female:46 -Female:48 -Female: 50 -Female:55 -Female:55 -Female:55 participating Other States Other States Other States Other States Other States Other States Other States institutes.(Disaggregated -All: 67 -All: 68 -All: 70 -All: 75 -All: 77 -All: 77 -All: 77 by SC/ST groups and -SC/ST: 54 -SC/ST: 56 -SC/ST: 58 -SC/ST: 60 -SC/ST: 65 -SC/ST: 65 -SC/ST: 65 gender) (Text) -Female: 64 -Female: 66 -Female:68 -Female:70 -Female:75 -Female:75 -Female:75 Action: This indicator has been Revised The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) PDO Table SPACE Intermediate Results Indicators by Components RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 6 Component 1: Improving quality and equity in engineering institutes in focus states Direct project 1,469,441.00 1,496,759.00 1,541,801.00 1,614,472.00 1,690,643.00 1,690,643.00 3,210,204.00 beneficiaries (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Female beneficiaries 26.00 26.50 27.00 28.00 30.00 30.00 30.00 (Percentage) Percentage of participating institutes in 44.00 45.00 47.00 50.00 55.00 55.00 55.00 focus states with autonomy (DLI 2) (Text) Action: This indicator has been Revised Percentage of PhD students in total enrolment in engineering Focus States: 1.6 Focus States:10 Focus States:30 Focus States:70 Focus States:100 Focus States:100 Focus States: 100 disciplines in participating institutes. Indicator will track Other States: 2.5 Other States:10 Other States:30 Other States:70 Other States:100 Other States:100 Other States: 100 percent increase over baseline (Text) Action: This indicator has been Revised The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 6 Percentage of sanctioned faculty positions in participating institutes Focus States:40 Focus States: 42 Focus States: 50 Focus States: 65 Focus States: 85 Focus States: 85 Focus States:85 filled by regular or contract faculty, Other States:65 Other States: 66 Other States: 68 Other States: 70 Other States: 85 Other States: 85 Other States:85 contracted as per AICTE norms (Text) Action: This indicator has been Revised Number of faculty trained in either their subject domain, Focus States:500 Focus States:1000 Focus States:2500 Focus States:5000 Focus States:5000 Focus States:5000 pedagogy or 0.00 management in Other States:1000 Other States:2000 Other States:3000 Other States:6000 Other States:6000 Other States:6000 participating institutes (cumulative) (Text) Action: This indicator has been Revised Percentage of externally funded research and Focus States: Focus States:3 Focus States:4 Focus States:5 Focus States:7 Focus States:7 Focus States: 7 development projects 2 and consultancies in total Other States: revenue in participating Other States:11 Other States:12 Other States:13 Other States :15 Other States:15 Other States: 15 10 institutes (Text) Action: This indicator has been Revised Participation of affiliated Focus States: 5 Focus States: 10 Focus States: 15 Focus States: 30 Focus States: 30 Focus States: 30 institutes in participating 0.00 Other States: 20 Other States: 30 Other States: 60 Other States: 150 Other States: 150 Other States: 150 ATUs in newly designed The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 6 research-hub related activities (Text) Action: This indicator has been Revised Number of engineering education institutes in focus states that meet 21.00 55.00 87.00 87.00 the enabling mechanisms for participation in the project (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Students benefiting from direct interventions to 1,378,532.00 2,894,917.00 enhance learning (CRI, Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Students benefiting from direct interventions to 353,605.00 742,571.00 enhance learning - Female (CRI, Number) Component 2: System-level initiatives to strengthen sector governance and performance Employer feedback Employer satisfaction Employer feedback on at least 1 cohort with engineers recruited NA on at least 1 cohort of engineers (Text) of engineers recruited. Report The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 6 published. recruited. Report published. Action: This indicator has been Revised Report on first Student, Staff and Faculty round published NA 15.00 15.00 15.00 Satisfaction Survey (Text) and action plan prepared Action: This indicator has been Revised Percentage of participating institutes with a BoG composed as per prescribed structure Focus States: 35 Focus States: 60 Focus States: 70 Focus States: 95 Focus States: 95 Focus States: 95 that meets at least 4 Other States: 60 Other States: 80 Other States: 95 Other States: 95 Other States: 95 Other States: 95 times every calendar and which publicly discloses the minutes of all meetings (DLI #3) (Text) Action: This indicator has been Revised MIS developed: MIS designed: MIS functional: MIS functional: MIS functional: Number of participating Focus States: At MIS functional: Focus States: At Focus States: At Focus States: At Focus States: At ATUs with MIS capable of least 3 ATUs Focus States: At least 1 ATU least 5 ATUs least 5 ATUs least 5 ATUs producing annual report NA Non-LIS: At least 2 least 5 ATUs Non-LIS: At least 1 Non-LIS: At least 3 Non-LIS: At least 3 Non-LIS: At least 3 against prescribed ATUs Non-LIS: At least 3 ATU ATUs ATUs ATUs indicators (Text) ATUs The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 6 Action: This indicator has been Revised Number of participating ATUs in focus states that publicly declare final semester examination 0.00 1.00 3.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 results before the start of the next academic year (Text) Action: This indicator has been Revised Percentage of participating institutes in Focus states that train final year engineering 25.00 30.00 50.00 60.00 60.00 60.00 students to take exit examination (e.g. GATE) (DLI#4) (Percentage) Action: This indicator has been Revised In the previous six For the last two For the last two For the last two (6) months: quarters: quarters: quarters: i) Timeliness of (i) MHRD provides (i) Fund utilization (i) Fund utilization (i) Fund utilization allocations, and allocation in PFMS (eligible payments (eligible payments (eligible payments utilization; and (ii) NA for at least 75% of made) are made) are made) are expenditure recognition the fund requests equivalent to 70% equivalent to 90% equivalent to at against the utilization submitted by the or more, of the or more, of the least 90% or more, (DLI #5) (Text) institutes, within approved approved of the approved ten (10) calendar allocations for the allocations for the allocations for the The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 6 days from the start participating participating participating of quarter; and institutes; and institutes; and institutes; and (ii) 70% of the (ii) 70% of the (ii) 90% of the (ii) At least 90% of payments requests funds utilized to funds utilized to the funds utilized to made by the date have been date have been date have been institutes are accounted for as accounted for as accounted for as honored within expenditures in the expenditures in the expenditures in the thirty (30) calendar Books of Accounts Books of Accounts Books of Accounts of days from the date of the participating of the participating the participating on which the institutes. institutes. institutes. participating institute requests the payment for eligible transactions. Action: This indicator has been Revised Percentage of participating institutes that produce and publish Focus States Focus States: 20 Focus States: 60 an annual report in the Focus States: Focus States: :85 0.00 prescribed format in 85Other States: 85 85Other States: 85 accordance with the Other States: 20 Other States: 60 Other States:85 requirements set out in the PIP (Text) Action: This indicator has been Revised The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) IO Table SPACE The World Bank Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (P154523) Note to Task Teams: End of system generated content, document is editable from here. Please delete this note when finalizing the document