ALL INDIA COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Benign corporates allowed to enter tech edu
 
By Rajiv Shukla
NEW DELHI : Subtly and stealthily, the Union Human Resource Development Ministry on December 30 allowed corporates to creep into technical education sector in the country.

The entry, initially has been allowed to benign companies defined under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 -- and in only 241 districts where currently no AICTE Institution exists -- giving profiteers a fair hint to wait and watch.

Besides, the corporates have been allowed to set up campuses through PPP or through build-operate-transfer mode under agreement with public sector.  Like all other companies, the educational institutions set up by the benign companies will be regulated by the ministry of corporate affairs.

Till now only registered Trusts and Societies were allowed to establish technical education institutions in the country -- this was to keep business coporates at bay.

The announcement of this crucial decision was made by the Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on behalf of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on December 30.

“We will henceforth allow companies registered as non-profit entities under Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956 to establish technical institutions to allow good corporates to set up institutions. However, no joint venture can apply for this,” Sibal announced.

Corporate houses have been demanding such a provision for a long time, saying it is much easier to function as a Section 25 company than as a trust or society.

Enumerating the revised norms for AICTE approval the minister said that Institutes offering post-graduate management diplomas will have to subscribe to scores in the Common Admission Test, Management Aptitude Test or tests conducted by state governments.

This firm announcement effectively bars some institutions like Jamshedpur-based XLRI to hold their own entrance test XAT. The new policy is in consonance with the Supreme Court ruling in the landmark 11-judge decision in T M A Pai Foundation Vs State of Karnataka case decided on April 3, 2002 in which the apex court specifically said that all admissions to technical education institutions in the country should be done through an all-India common entrance test.

Announcing a major relaxation in the AICTE norms the minister declared that in rural sector, only 10 acre will be required to set up an engineering institute while in urban sector only 2.5 acre -- obviously indicating a vertical construction module for the technical education institutions.

In a pleasant surprise for students, Mr Sibal also announced an increase of almost 200,000 seats in engineering courses. As part of reforms in the AICTE norms, the minister also announced an additional 80,000 seats in management and 2,200 seats in architecture courses. Technical institutes, Mr Sibal said, can from now on increase the intake capacity per programme from 40 to 60 seats.

The AICTE has also decided to create 5 per cent supernumerary seats in each institution which will be reserved for students from economically backward backgrounds.

Students whose family income is less than Rs 2.5 lakh a year can get admission to these seats and will not have to pay tuition fees.

“It was the discretion on the part of the institution to apply for such a scheme. Now these seats are made mandatory for every institute up to 5 per cent,” Sibal said.

The AICTE has also modified the approval norms under which institutes could offer stand-alone postgraduate programme. Under the existing norms PG courses were allowed only on campuses that offered undergraduate programmes. However now the AICTE has allowed stand-alone PG institutes as well.

Sibal said B.Sc students could seek lateral entry to a second-year B.Tech degree programme provided they had mathematics at Class XII or at the BSc level.