In the wake of the Supreme Court order debarring the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) from regulating technical education institutions in the country, the University Grants Commission has come up with the draft regulation on granting approval to colleges offering technical education, by universities.
On April 25 the Supreme Court ruled that colleges affiliated to a university do not come under the purview of the definition of ‘technical institution’ as defined under the AICTE Act.
Under such circumstances it has become imperative for universities and the UGC to evolve a suitable methodology to ensure that existing technical/engineering colleges affiliated to universities do not dilute standards of technical education imparted by them, Upamanyu Basu, UGC secretary (i/c), said in a public notice.
As per the draft regulation, no college shall offer programme(s) and course(s) in technical education without the approval of the affiliating university.
The regulation has outlined the norms and procedures to be followed by the university while granting approval to a new college offering technical education.
It mandates every university to maintain a list of un-approved colleges offering technical education programmes or courses and inform the UGC and the general public.
The applications for new institution or additional course or increase in intake shall be evaluated by a scrutinising committee constituted by the university.
Applicants recommended by the committee should be visited by the university-constituted expert committee to verify the physical and infrastructural facilities of the applicant institute.
An executive committee of the university after considering the recommendations of the expert committee will take a final decision at its meeting on grant of approval or otherwise.
UGC vice-chairman H Devaraj said, “It was only in the initial stage. No final decision has been taken on whether the technical institutions will come under the UGC or AICTE.”