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| Monday, June 02, 2008
AICTE may relax norms for self-financing colleges
Chennai: The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
will consider relaxing the academic and fees norms for self-financing
engineering colleges, its chairman R.A. Yadav said on Sunday.
Jeppiaar, president of the Consortium of Self-financing Professional,
Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu, presented a memorandum
to Prof. Yadav, seeking a uniform fee structure for all engineering
colleges throughout the country. He also requested Prof. Yadav
to relax the teacher-student ratio from 1:15 to 1:20.
Though self-financing colleges constituted 85 per cent of
all engineering institutions in the country, Mr. Jeppiaar
said, they were looked upon with mistrust by both the government
and the people. And the AICTE norms on academic standards
reflected this attitude.
As there was a severe shortage of qualified teachers in the
country, it was almost impossible to maintain the present
ratio of 1:15. Furthermore, he said, the AICTE had stipulated
that the colleges have a minimum number of Ph.D professors
on their rolls.
Prof. Yadav said due consideration would be given to the consortium’s
requests. The AICTE, an expert-driven body, would go by the
recommendations of the various committees set up to study
these problems. Even if the AICTE norms on the teacher-student
ratio were ideal for the country’s long-term needs,
he said he was willing to consider the demand for 1:20 for
the near future.
As for the fee structure, he said the Supreme Court had ruled
that State governments decide on appropriate fee structures.
This was because of the inequities and regional imbalances
in different parts of the country.
The financial viability of self-financing colleges, he said,
was as much a concern for the AICTE as the ideal of sustainable
and inclusive growth.
Prof. Yadav said engineering colleges were not using their
infrastructure efficiently.
To promote effective utilisation, the AICTE was planning to
allow polytechnics to be run in all engineering colleges in
the second-shift after the daytime classes were over.
The AICTE chairman said he would ensure transparent and speedy
processing of all matters concerning engineering education.
This year, proposals for starting 105 co-educational engineering
colleges had been received by the AICTE from Tamil Nadu alone.
Of these, 90 were cleared in the first stage, and Letters
of Intent issued immediately.
For effective collaboration between the AICTE and engineering
colleges, Prof. Yadav said he welcomed the participation of
self-financing colleges in the council deliberations.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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