Universities gain authority over technical schools

The University Grants Commission last week approved a regulation giving universities absolute power over quality control in technical education including engineering, management and pharmacy, writes Basant Kumar Mohanty for The Telegraph.

Universities will examine parameters such as infrastructure, faculty strength, admission processes, lab and library facilities of colleges proposing to run technical courses before granting them approval. This was previously done by the All India Council of Technical Education, or AICTE, until the Supreme Court stripped it of regulatory powers last April.

There are nearly 10,000 engineering and management colleges affiliated to some 60 universities in the country. The AICTE had put in place an online system for monitoring institutions and their facilities. Private institutes appeared sceptical whether universities would have “adequate staff and resources” to successfully monitor engineering institutions.
Full report on The Telegraph India site