The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has engaged over 700 faculty members from the Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology to look into the quality of education of its affiliated technical colleges before allowing an increase in seats, a top official said.
The modification comes after the technical education authority lifted the cap on boosting admissions for high-performing institutions as long as they maintained the highest level of education. A maximum of 240 seats could be found in any one field of study in technical colleges in the past.
The council has started the seat approval process for 2024-25, member secretary Rajive Kumar said. It has engaged the faculty from premier institutions to inspect the colleges before granting permission, he added.
“The council has specified some quality parameters for all technical Institutions, including sufficient faculty, fully equipped laboratories and updated infrastructure,” Kumar said. “Whenever new or existing institutions apply for an increase in the number of seats, we will send experts to inspect their premises. The experts will submit their recommendations on the basis of which AICTE will decide whether to allow them to increase the seats or not.”
“It is important to ensure the institutions do not compromise on the quality of education,” he added. “Deputing experts from top institutions for quality checks will help ensure this.”
The experts will be paid for their services and the council will arrange for their travel and accommodation, he said. “In case the number of inspections are more, we will engage more experts from government affiliated colleges, but primarily we would take services of senior faculty members from IITs and NITs,” he added.
Last year, the AICTE lifted a moratorium on the establishment of new engineering schools, three years after it had halted approving any new technical school due to unfilled seats at some of its affiliated institutions.
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