AICTE affiliation system needs to end in 10 years, says govt panel

AICTE affiliation system needs to end in 10 years, says govt panel

Panel suggests single engineering entrance exam for all schools under AICTE and a single management test for all business schools

 

A government panel has recommended converting the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) into a statutory constitutional body and suggested ending the affiliation system of technical schools in the next 10 years.

 

The panel has recommended that the AICTE should evolve as a mentor rather than a “policeman”.

 

Recognizing the “need for restructuring and strengthening” the AICTE to address challenges, the human resource development ministry set up a review committee led by former education secretary M.K. Kaw in November 2014.

 

More than 11,000 professional schools, including engineering and management schools, fall under the purview of the AICTE.

 

The panel’s report called on the regulator to shed the mindset of a licence distributor and suggested some radical steps, including doing away with the affiliation system in a decade, conducting a single engineering entrance exam for all schools under AICTE and a single management test for all business schools.

 

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) do not fall under the AICTE’s purview.

 

The government panel’s report said, “AICTE should be recognised as the chief instrument of state policy in order to establish India as the technical education superpower of the world. It should be converted into an apex constitutional authority to promote orderly, integrated and coordinated development of technical education... technical education should be a fundamental right”.

 

The recommendations hold significance in the face of growing suspicion over the AICTE’s role as a regulator and its conflicting role along with the University Grants Commission. A case is also on in the Supreme Court on whether it qualifies as a technical education regulator at all.

 

“It has to get converted into a facilitating agency which promotes technical education... through suitable schemes of mentoring and guidance, faculty improvement, development of research and incubation infrastructure, grant of financial assistance to deserving institutions... and so on”, the report said.

 

On the growing number of new institutions, the panel said, “New institutions should be allowed only if there is substantial unmet demand pertaining to an area of specialisation.”

 

The panel suggested that third-party ratings should be used as the “fulcrum of regulation” and that “norms shall measure outcomes rather than be obsessed with physical inputs alone”.

It asked the AICTE to improve the functioning of sub-standard institutions with help from “senior faculty drawn from higher technical institutions who will act as mentors and trainers”.

H. Chaturvedi, director of the Birla Institute of Management and Technology in Greater Noida, said he supports the suggestions of making the AICTE a statutory constitutional body like the Election Commission.

 

He added that instead of the National Board of Accreditation carrying out the accreditation of courses, the government needs to take the help of competent industry bodies for better outcomes.

 

Source | Mint – The Wall Street Journal | 29 July 2015

AICTE-Librarian-Pay Scale

http://www.aicte-india.org/downloads/reg-paydegree220110.pdf

Librarian as teacher by AICTE

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SC gives back AICTE power to approve tech colleges

1)SC gives back AICTE power to approve tech colleges

Link: 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/SC-gives-back-AICTE-power-to-approve-tech-colleges/articleshow/34041879.cms

2)Apex court lets AICTE to approve technical institutes

Link: 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Coimbatore/Apex-court-lets-AICTE-to-approve-technical-institutes/articleshow/33975596.cms

Apex court lets AICTE to approve technical institutes

Arun P Mathew,TNN | Apr 20, 2014, 03.34 AM IST

READ MORE All India Council For Technical Education|Supreme Court|Mantha Chairman|Anna University|AICTE

COIMBATORE: The Supreme Court has given an interim order that the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will be in charge of the approval process of technical institutions for the coming academic year as well. An interim order issued on Thursday by the court says the AICTE can proceed in accordance with its Approval Process Handbook.

"Approval Process Handbook (2013-14) is presently in force and the same has been extended and made applicable for the Academic Year 2014-15 as well. AICTE shall now proceed in accordance with the Approval Process Handbook for the Academic Year 2014-15. Necessary orders shall be issued by AICTE within 10 days," said the order issued by the bench of justices L M Lodha and Kurien.

AICTE officials said they were studying the order and added that they would continue with their policies. "If we are given back approval powers we will not keep any restrictions with regard to starting technical institutions," said S S Mantha, chairman of AICTE. The liberal allocation of technical institutions was one of the policies that has been heavily criticised. Mantha's words indicate a continuity of the policies if AICTE gets back the powers.

Former Anna University vice chancellor E Balagurusamy said the order was a heartening development and added that AICTE was doing a commendable job and expected the agency would get complete powers over technical and management institutions as before.

SC gives back AICTE power to approve tech colleges

Ashok Pradhan,TNN | Apr 21, 2014, 02.18 PM IST

BHUBANESWAR: Changing its decision of April 25 last year, the Supreme Court has allowed All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to have regulatory control over technical educational institutions in the country for the 2014-15 academic year. The latest interim order came on a petition of the Odisha Technical Colleges' Association (OTCA) on April 17, OTCA president Biswajit Mohanty said here on Sunday.
The SC last year had said colleges affiliated to any university do not come under AICTE purview, thereby shrinking AICTE role in regulating technical institutions. After the April 25 SC order, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had decided to take over control on technical education in the country and had framed guidelines for universities.

Allowing AICTE to have regulatory control over all such technical institutions again, a bench of Justice R M Lodha and Justice Kurian Joseph said on April 17, "AICTE shall now proceed in accordance with the approval process handbook for the 2014-15 academic year in so far as members of the petitioner association and all colleges and institutions situated similarly to the members of the petitioners' association."

The apex court also asked AICTE to issue necessary orders in this regard within 10 days, copy of the court order reveals.

Welcoming the latest court verdict, the OTCA president said AICTE control over technical institutions is necessary to ensure quality in technical education.

"UGC being an agency to offer grants, it had no technical expertise to ensure norms in technical institutions. That is why UGC delegated such a role to universities, which will dilute the quality of technical institutions in the country," Mohanty told TOI.

OTCA, which has 62 member colleges in the state, had prayed to vest regulatory control on AICTE on the same logic.

The colleges were particularly apprehensive about their future without AICTE. In the UGC system, regulatory powers would have ultimately come to state universities, resulting in increased state government meddling in their affairs. The Odisha government, for example, had asked UGC to ensure that only Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) be allowed to affiliate any technical institution in Odisha.
The government had also requested UGC to ensure that no objection certificate from the state government would be made necessary before opening a new technical college, change of location, closure of a college and conversion of women's technical college into co-ed college etc.

UGC takes over reins of technical institutes

Education

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2014-01-27/news/46684209_1_technical-institutes-law-ministry-aicte-act

UGC takes over reins of technical institutes

Akshaya Mukul, TNN Jan 27, 2014, 05.10AM IST

NEW DELHI: University Grants Commission's takeover of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is complete as far as degree-granting technical institutes are concerned. UGC has formally notified the regulations to be followed by technical institutes affiliated to universities.

UGC's regulations come in the wake of a Supreme Court order which negated AICTE's power to grant approval to technical colleges affiliated to universities. With new regulations in place, it is unlikely that AICTE's hope of getting its power restored through amendment of AICTE Act will be realized anytime soon. But AICTE can continue to regulate diploma-granting institutions.

"Chances of getting AICTE Act amended is remote. The next session of Parliament will be short and then there is general election," an HRD ministry official said.

As the amendment route was getting delayed, HRD ministry tried to circumvent the SC order by asking law ministry "if rules can be notified under section 25 of the UGC Act to authorize AICTE to accord approval to technical education institutions in the same manner as it did prior to the SC judgment". However, the law ministry shot down the proposal.

UGC regulation makes it mandatory for a college to first seek affiliation from the university before starting academic activities. A new college proposing to offer technical education can be created by introducing one or more programmes housed either in one or separate buildings.

The new college shall be granted affiliation when it is on one contiguous plot of land except for those in north-eastern and other hilly states where it can spread into three pieces of land, not far from one another, by more than one kilometer.

Apart from a host of regulations, technical institutes will have to keep 50% faculty from general shift for the evening shift. Each part-time course will be managed by 20% core staff i.e. minimum one associate professor and two assistant professors. Guest faculty should not be more than 30% to be sourced from neighbouring industries/R&D organizations/government technical colleges.

B-schools welcome compromise between UGC and AICTE

Wednesday, January 15, 2014 | 01:00 PM IST

http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/b-schools-welcome-compromise-between-ugc-and-aicte-114011300034_1.html

B-schools welcome compromise between UGC and AICTE

The decision was taken after a Supreme Court order had left AICTE in the role of an advisor, a shift from being a regulator earlier

Manu Balachandran & Kalpana Pathak  |  New Delhi  

January 13, 2014 Last Updated at 00:30 IST

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Institutes offering Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) courses have welcomed the compromise formula reached by the ministry of human resource development (MHRD), according to which the University Grants Commission (UGC) will regulate B-schools offering a masters' degree in management and are affiliated to universities, while the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will regulate independent B-schools offering PGDM.

Private B-schools, however, want the decision to be formalised and announced soon. A senior official at a private B-school said the decision was informally conveyed to them by the MHRD. The decision was taken after a Supreme Court order had left AICTE in the role of an advisor, a shift from being a regulator earlier.

AICTE Chairman Shankar S Mantha said he was not aware of a decision. "AICTE is not fighting for PGDM institutions alone. We are here for technical education. As an Act of Parliament, AICTE's powers must be restored."

H Chaturvedi, director, Birla Institute of Management Technology, said: "This is a good move but we want this to be formalised."

With Common Admission Test results being announced on Tuesday, B-schools wanted a speedy resolution to this issue, as AICTE's permission is needed to run programmes and for expansion of seats. These institutes were planning to approach the Supreme Court, as the imbroglio threatened to derail their plans for the next academic session.

Chaudhari Prasad, chairman-admissions at TA Pai Management Institute, said: "The general feeling is that independent B-schools should not be overseen by the UGC. But we cannot comment unless the government comes out with an announcement. The students should not be affected by all this confusion."

Private B-schools are also expected to meet the MHRD later this month. They propose the creation of an All India Board of Management Study to specifically deal with PGDM courses.

Pritam Singh, director of International Management Institute, Delhi, said: "MHRD has realised the concerns of PGDM institutions and we welcome this move. The way forward now will be to provide more autonomy and freedom to the PGDM institutions."

Last month, to address the absence of AICTE as a regulator, UGC had proposed independent B-schools, which follow their own curriculum and set their own course fees, would also be required to obey the guidelines and seek affiliation to universities that function under UGC and adopt their syllabus. Following protests by the institutes, the UGC decided not to extend the regulations to independent B-schools, which have been worried about losing their autonomy.

AICTE Chairman Shankar S Mantha said he was not aware of a decision. He said he had maintained that AICTE's powers be restored. "AICTE is not fighting for PGDM institutions alone. We are here for technical education. As an Act of Parliament, AICTE's powers must be restored."

The apex court ruling, which left the AICTE as an advisor, was the result of a dispute between Bharathidasan University in Tamil Nadu and AICTE over the need for approval of technical courses in colleges that come under the state university and, therefore, under the UGC.

UGC comes up with new regulations

UGC comes up with new regulations

INDIA TODAY ONLINE  NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13, 2014 | UPDATED 19:24 IST

RELATEDS

• Panel to examine UGC Act to empower colleges to grant degrees
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The University Grants Commission (UGC) has passed new regulations related to technical education and distance education.
At a meeting of the commission, as per the newly passed regulations, technical colleges will now be regulated by the Universities.
According to the new regulation, the universities have been empowered to grant recognition and approval to the colleges that offer engineering programs leading to an award of a degree.

As per the sources, before granting the approval, the universities need to develop their own mechanism for screening of proposal and inspection of Institution. The sources, however, added that the institutes that are offering a diploma in management programs will continue to be regulated as per the existing practices.

Also the regulation for distance education has been approved. As per this regulation, the universities that offer distance education programs will have to seek approval of UGC for programs leading to the award of a degree.
However, stand-alone institutions will most probably not be covered by the regulation.

About University Grants Commission (UGC):
It is a statutory organization set up by the Union government in 1956, charged with co-ordination, determination, and maintenance of standards of university education. It provides recognition to universities in India and disburses funds to such recognized universities and colleges.