The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided to extend a three year approval to the technical institutions including engineering colleges next year. So far, the institutions have been granted approval on an annual basis.
The apex technical body of the country has come out with a draft Approval Process Handbook (APH) 2024-27.
AICTE Vice Chairman, Dr. Abhay Jere during an online interactive session with stakeholders on APH on Friday, said, “Every year getting a new document out is a new exercise for the institutions. That is the reason we thought we will try to bring APH for three years from 2024. If there are addendums or corrigendum, they will be subsequently released.”
The final APH for 2024-27 will be released on November 28 and AICTE will be holding an interactive session with stakeholders on November 29.
The move did not go down well with the Telangana Technical
Institutions Employees Association (TTIEA), which wanted physical inspection of the college before extending the three year approval.
“There have been no inspections of the colleges for last 10 years and AICTE extended approvals to colleges on the basis of papers submitted by the managements. The quality of technical education will take a beating if the AICTE extends three year approval without inspection of the colleges,” said Dr. V Balakrishna Reddy, president TTIEA.
Further, starting next year, the colleges offering BCA and BBA programmes must get an approval from the AICTE. So far, the universities granted affiliation to these courses on a yearly basis.
“The colleges introducing BBA and BCA courses next year and existing colleges have to take approval from the AICTE,” Dr. Jere said. The AICTE has also revised the faculty student ratio from the existing 1:15 to 1:20 in the undergraduate engineering and technology programmes.