India Inc can set up engineering, B-schools

NEW DELHI: In a move that will help increase lakhs of seats in engineering and management streams, HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday announced a new set of norms for All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for setting up new institutions.

Unlike the existing system where only trusts could establish technical institutions, corporate sector will now be allowed to start AICTE-approved courses if they set up separate companies as non-profit entities under section 25 of the Companies Act.

Doing away with voluntary tuition fee waiver scheme of AICTE for 10% students, the new norm makes it mandatory for each and every institute to keep 5% seats for the economically backward sections. Considering the land crunch, it has been decided that there will be only two classifications — rural and other areas. While an institute in rural area will have to be housed in 10 acres, in other areas it could be 2.5 acres. Floor Space Index and Floor Area Ratio will be considered and engineering institutions will be allowed vertical expansion where management programmes will be allowed.

Acknowledging the demand of many institutes to increase the intake capacity, AICTE has allowed increase in seats from 40 to 60. There is a ceiling that there would be no increase after an intake of 540 students have been removed.

Now, institutes will also be allowed to have more than one engineering/architecture/pharmacy/management/hotel management and catering technology institutes that can be integrated into a single campus so that resources can be shared and optimized.

The fixed deposit receipt paid by institutes to AICTE will now be converted into money deposit. All institutions completing more than one batch shall be eligible to get two courses/programmes on self-disclosure if facilities and infrastructure are available.

Source: TimesOfIndia

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