AICTE refuses to budge on new guidelines

Council says B-schools involved in malpractices are behind the court case.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the country’s technical education regulator, has decided to slug it out with business schools in court.

AICTE says it will not revoke the PGDM guidelines over which 200 B-schools have decided to approach the Supreme Court this week.

Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) and the Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI) will file writ petitions on behalf of these B-schools.

“We know that this (approaching the court) is the handiwork of select institutes. We have received complaints against many of these institutes in the past. Some of these institutes are involved in malpractices, some are charging hefty fee, some are not conducting classes and exams well. We have weighed all options and decided on this,” said a senior AICTE official.

B-schools want a stay order on all AICTE guidelines. In the absence of which, the management institutes would not accept students qualifying through state-level interviews and group discussions, they say.

In December 2010, AICTE came out with guidelines on post graduate diploma in management (PGDM). Among other guidelines, one which is being strongly opposed by the B-schools is: admission to all PGDM courses to be done through common entrance test such as Common Admission Test or Management Aptitude Test (CAT/MAT) or examinations conducted by the respective state governments for all institutions other than minority institutions.

Specialised institutes which cater to industries like communications and rural management will be impacted adversely as state government may not be competent enough to cater to the needs of the specialised institutes. Also, as Common Admission Test (CAT) is a computer-based examination students from rural regions may not be familiar with any aspect of this examination.

AICTE also suggest issuing a model curriculum for all PGDM programmes.“Syllabus formation is a highly skilled and professional job to be handled by education experts. A compulsory curriculum will also take the responsibility away from the institutes resulting in decline in quality of education delivered,” said a sector expert.

B-schools consider these guidelines a threat to their autonomy and argue that AICTE’s notification will stifle growth of management education.

“If AICTE's guideline of conducting PGDM programme with duration of not less than 24 months is followed, it may negatively impact the recruitment process for the institutes and industry too,” said a B-school director.

Also, the notification, it is said, violates the landmark judgments of the Supreme Court in TMA Pai and P A Inamdar cases which defined the autonomy of self-finance PGDM institutes.

There are over 2,000 B-schools offering MBA and PGDM programmes in India with an annual student capacity of over 172,000. Of this 391 B-schools offer PGDM programme with a student capacity of 44,318.