It is common knowledge that the state of technical
education in India in UGC/AICTE regulated higher education institutions
is, to put it politely, not so great. I thought that AICTE must take
some blame for this as they are the key technical education regulator.
But some petitioners challenged AICTE's ability to enforce sanctions (punishment) on educational institutions whose academic standards are not up to AICTE's expectations, in the Indian Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court bench ruled that AICTE can only play an advisory role but not enforce sanctions! So AICTE has essentially been made a toothless tiger. IMHO, in India, toothless tigers can only serve as a butt of ridicule. UGC alone seems to have the ability to enforce sanctions on educational institutions. AICTE may have to write to UGC complaining about standards in some educational institutions and leave it to UGC whether to act by imposing sanctions. The Supreme Court ruling must be based on the acts passed in Indian Parliament related to UGC and AICTE.
Different news articles seem to give slightly different views and with different level of detail.
This one gives just the basic picture, "Varsity affiliated colleges need not take AICTE approval to run MBA, MCA", http://www.thehindu.com/
BTW, for international readers, MBA is Master of Business Administration (I think that is common internationally), and MCA is Master of Computer Applications (which I think is not so common internationally).
This one gives some more details, "Apex court allows pvt colleges to offer MBA, MCA sans AICTE nod", http://www.
This one does not pull any punches, "AICTE’s Newtonian downfall", http://newindianexpress.com/
Perhaps MHRD can pass suitable amendments to UGC and/or AICTE acts in Parliament which will give AICTE the teeth to impose sanctions (punishment) on technical higher education institutions which do not meet its academic standards.
But some petitioners challenged AICTE's ability to enforce sanctions (punishment) on educational institutions whose academic standards are not up to AICTE's expectations, in the Indian Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court bench ruled that AICTE can only play an advisory role but not enforce sanctions! So AICTE has essentially been made a toothless tiger. IMHO, in India, toothless tigers can only serve as a butt of ridicule. UGC alone seems to have the ability to enforce sanctions on educational institutions. AICTE may have to write to UGC complaining about standards in some educational institutions and leave it to UGC whether to act by imposing sanctions. The Supreme Court ruling must be based on the acts passed in Indian Parliament related to UGC and AICTE.
Different news articles seem to give slightly different views and with different level of detail.
This one gives just the basic picture, "Varsity affiliated colleges need not take AICTE approval to run MBA, MCA", http://www.thehindu.com/
BTW, for international readers, MBA is Master of Business Administration (I think that is common internationally), and MCA is Master of Computer Applications (which I think is not so common internationally).
This one gives some more details, "Apex court allows pvt colleges to offer MBA, MCA sans AICTE nod", http://www.
This one does not pull any punches, "AICTE’s Newtonian downfall", http://newindianexpress.com/
Perhaps MHRD can pass suitable amendments to UGC and/or AICTE acts in Parliament which will give AICTE the teeth to impose sanctions (punishment) on technical higher education institutions which do not meet its academic standards.
MHRD seems to be trying to give teeth to AICTE by amending the AICTE act according to this article in The Hindu, dated August 17th 2013, Endorse AICTE-approved technical colleges. But, the article states, MHRD's move got stalled by Cabinet Secretariat queries. An ordinance may be moved after Parliament session concludes.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile UGC seems to have given go-ahead to universities for approving (granting affiliation to) institutions offering courses (degrees) in technical education that have been approved by AICTE for 2013-14.
An informative article in The Hindu, For a new avatar of the AICTE, by vice-chancellor of SASTRA university about AICTE history and current travails, dated December 27th 2013.
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