Guwahati: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on Thursday lifted the moratorium on new engineering colleges that was put in place in 2020-21.
The AICTE has decided to lift the ban in view of the increasing demand for seats.
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According to the AICTE’s Approval Process Handbook 2023-24, new engineering colleges, including the ones starting courses in core branches like mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering, will be allowed from the academic year 2023-24 onwards.
The AICTE decided to do away with the ban on the recommendation of an expert committee led by IIT-Hyderabad Board of Governors Chairman B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, on whose suggestion the ban had been first advised in 2019.
“Moratorium for establishing New Institution in Engineering and Technology has been lifted from Academic Year 2023-24. However, for establishing a new institution in Engineering and Technology, preference shall be given to the applicant offering courses in multi-disciplinary areas in-line with NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) areas,” reads the AICTE handbook.
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“We did a review of the engineering seats last year and found that the admission percentage in engineering courses was going up. In the previous years, we had seen that the numbers were declining, but last year the admission percentage (was found to be) going up, hence it was decided that the moratorium should be lifted,” The Print quoted Rajive Kumar, Member Secretary, AICTE, as saying.
According to AICTE, the total intake in AICTE-approved engineering institutions had declined from 26.95 lakh seats in 2012-13 to 23.66 lakh seats in 2021-22.
Kumar added that the council has told colleges that they should have at least one branch in emerging areas like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning if they have three core engineering branches like Mechanical and Civil on offer in their institutes.
He also said the council had noted that the quality of graduates coming out of engineering colleges had improved.
While welcoming the initiative, Dr Anshu Kataria, President, Federation of Self Financing Technical Institutions (FSFTI) & Punjab Unaided Colleges Association (PUCA) & Chairman, Aryans Group of Colleges, Rajpura, Near Chandigarh said that AICTE has given new lease of life to the technical institution across nation. Kataria also appreciated AICTE for giving the relaxation on maintaining the faculty against those seats which are not filled.
Kataria further added that with the surplus land, now the colleges will be able to utilize that land for other projects which will give big financial relief to the technical institutions of country.