In response to the growing violations among state private institutions offering engineering and technical courses, Karnataka’s Higher Education Minister, Dr. MC Sudhakar, issued a letter dated September 14th, urgently requesting the intervention of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The minister expressed deep concern regarding the ‘unscientific’ and ‘abnormal’ proliferation of seats in these institutions offering various engineering courses.
Dr Sudhakar stressed the imperative for the state government to take control over the expansion of seats in state private institutions, especially in IT-related courses. Simultaneously, he advocated for a reduction in seats allocated to traditional engineering and technology programs. To achieve this balance, the minister recommended the establishment of specific limits, defining both the minimum and maximum number of seats a particular course or program can offer.
Additionally, the minister called for restrictions or a temporary ban on the establishment of new engineering colleges or universities offering professional courses, particularly in metropolitan and tier 1 cities, over the next two to three years.
Furthermore, Dr Sudhakar proposed that AICTE should enforce penalties for violations of their established norms and requirements, thereby discouraging arbitrary changes in the number of seats offered by institutions. He also suggested making state government permission, in the form of a no-objection certificate, a mandatory prerequisite for any increase, decrease, or changes in course intake—similar to the process for initiating or closing colleges—before proceeding with AICTE recommendations.
In his letter, the minister emphasized that ill-considered decisions to add courses and increase seat quotas have resulted in the deterioration of the quality of education and posed a severe threat to the survival of AICTE-approved colleges located in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
“Due tothe enorenormouscrease of seats in the State Private Universities/Institutions in IT related courses which are in high demand (at present), the affiliated colleges approved by AICTE functioning in the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are facing the challenges in running the institution. Since there is a severe migration of teaching faculty to Tier 1 cities, resulting in a ortage of faculty and fall in quathe of teaching which is having a cascading effect on the admission in these Tier 2 and Tier 3 Institutions,” said Sudhakar.
He added that “Is trend continues, slowly the good Private /Government institutes located in Tier-2and , Tier-3 cities or in Rural areas will face challenchallengesir survival and result ie gradual closure which will ultimately affect the rural students who cannot afford to join the Colleges or Universities located in Metros or Tier-1 cities. Also, uncontrolled increase in seatespecially specialiseded courses mainly in State PrivatUniversities is creating a problems for the graduate’s employment opportunities as the demand by the Industry and Supply does not Synchronize.”
The government’s desire to exert control over the allocation of seats and the establishment of new engineering colleges stems from a recent incident where approximately 90 colleges in the state circumvented government regulations. These colleges sought approval for new engineering courses directly from Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), bypassing the required procedures.
Under the established procedure, VTU is responsible for sending a Local Inquiry Committee (LIC) to colleges to inspect and approve new courses. Subsequently, colleges must obtain approval from the All India Council of Technical Education, followed by the issuance of a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the government. However, in this case, it was revealed that many of these colleges did not possess the necessary LIC reports. Consequently, the government declined to provide the NOC, highlighting a breach of protocol and non-compliance with regulatory norms.
In light of these violations and the potential implications for the quality of education and the integrity of the technical education system in the state, the government is keen to establish stricter control measures to ensure that all institutions adhere to the prescribed procedures and maintain educational standards. This initiative is driven by a commitment to maintain the quality and credibility of technical education in Karnataka.
In response to Minister Sudhakar’s concerns, Professor T G Sitharam, the chairman of AICTE, emphasized the council’s commitment to maintaining due process in granting approvals for new courses to educational institutions. Professor Sitharam, in a letter dated September 22, expressed the council’s willingness to engage with the Karnataka government regarding their proposed propositions for the academic year 2024-25, which would lay the groundwork for initiating the approval process.
The chairman clarified that AICTE follows a meticulous protocol when considering applications for the establishment of new institutions. Specifically, the process begins only when the council receives a stamped receipt indicating ackacknowledgementm the respective state government or affiliating body. Furthermore, it is communicated through the council’s approval process handbook that if the state government intends to deny approval to any applicant, this decision should be communicated to AICTE within 15 days from the date of receipt. This prompt communication allows the council to halt further progress in the approval-granting process.
In essence, Professor Sitharam’s response underscores AICTE’s commitment to transparency and collaboration with state governments to maintain rigorous standards in the approval of new educational institutions and courses.
He further said, “For existing institutions to start new courses, the council had made it mandatory that NOC from the affiliating body needs to be produced. State Private Universities offering Engineering Conot fall under the ambit of AICTE Hence the council could not exercise its regulations over them. These Universities are established by ththeistic therespective State Governments. In addition, AICTE is not permitting its approved institutions to close courses under core Engineering and instead of the same to start courses under emerging areas/ demand.”
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