No more AICTE path for engineering colleges

Andhra Pradesh's professional colleges will soon walk out of the shadow of AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education). The colleges will be directly answerable to their respective universities according to the new directive of University Grants Commission (UGC).

This will give a powerful wound in the hands of universities, as they have the power to decide on reducing the number of seats left vacant in engineering colleges of the state. This will happen once the new directive is implemented in 2014.

Engineering colleges now connected to universities

The UGC has already drafted a handbook for affiliation and put it up on its website for comments from various stake holders. According to the new rules drafted by UGC "all functions of AICTE will now rest with affiliating universities in the state. The functions include approval for the setting up of new colleges, change in site or location of an existing college, extension of approval of existing college and conversion of women's college in to co-ed college, closure of institution or courses an all matters related to supernumerary or NRI seats, are the other issues to be decided by affiliated universities."

Apart from this, there are other duties as well which universities have to take care of "change in the college name, adding dual degree and integrated courses or second shift and part time programmes in the existing colleges. The universities in turn will be answerable to UGC on all these matters." It could take few weeks before the final draft comes out.

The move is in accordance with a Supreme Court judgement on April 25, 2013 which states that colleges affiliated to universities do not come under the purview of the definition 'technical institution' under section 2 (h) of AICTE Act, 1987.