Students' Corner

Dear Students,
 
LAST WEEK WE ASKED: Do you think it is good for technical institutions that they are back in AICTE's purview for 2014-15?

BEST RESPONSE

Catering to the need of a stringent regulatory framework the SC has worked it's way by providing AICTE to consider and monitor technical institutes. With close to 600 technical universities and 70,000 graduates passing out every year, the quality of technical education becomes crucial to be maintained. For students checking the AICTE approval for a private/deemed college is of utmost importance in current scenario. With numerous colleges degrading their education and placement statistics with growing competition it is required to have a statutory regulatory body setting norms which looks after any manipulation or deliberate malpractices conducted by an institution.

- Tanya Sehgal, School Of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

OTHER RESPONSES

It depends on how progressive thinking process does AICTE's implement this time. Institutes have been under AICTE ambit for long. But AICTE could not achieve anything substantial. The need is to mould AICTE as per need of contemporary time. AICTE should focus on open thinking, Innovation, implementation, supporting role so that all stakeholder particularly students get benefited.  The approach should be to enhance the Employability of the youth. If above things are achieve then  technical institutions under AICTE is good otherwise its same old story.
- Nilaya Mitash Shanker, IIT Roorkee.

AICTE is controlling the technical education from many years and still India has many colleges which are not recognized by the AICTE. Our education system needs monitoring body like AICTE which helps students and their parents to find out recognized colleges for engineering and pharmacy colleges. States like Karnataka, Maharashtra have many engineering and pharmacy colleges which are not recognized under AICTE, but able to get students from other states which is very harmful for students.It is the  time to strengthen the controlling power of AICTE to stop bogus technical education.
- Anand Trivedi, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

The Supreme Court has changed its April 2013 decision debarring AICTE from regulating technical institution. The decision had come under criticism from the academic community which felt giving such powers to universities will lead to state government’s meddling in affairs ultimately diluting education quality in the country. The UGC which is basically for providing grants to improving university education lacks technical expertise, framework for taking up such a role and also AICTE which is an apex body has been regulating technical institutes for decades. UGC had also announced no new institutes will be set up due to lack of framework.

- Sajin Madhav S, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

This is a welcome move by SC as UGC is only a regulatory body, which can only mandate and can’t regulate, rule and regulation for the set-up of institution and University. What India needs is quality of education and not quantity of Institution. With necessary expertise to regulate the quality of education and to ensure basic standards and norms of delivering quality education, AICTE is the appropriate body to handle the mushrooming of educational institutions.
- Jignesh Trivedi, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

India’s higher education system is the third largest in the world in terms of enrolment & churns out thousands of technical students each year. Yet, to meet demand and supply gap more number of technical universities are going to come up. We all know that technical education contributes a major share to the overall education system and plays a vital role in the social and economic development of our nation. Hence, latest interim order allowing AICTE to have regulatory control over all technical institutions again is a welcome move, as UGC having no technical expertise may deteriorate level of technical institutions in India.

- Monik Gandhi, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

The role of UGC and AICTE had always been ambiguous. AICTE deals with coordinated development and proper planning of the technical education system in the country while UGC which have no technical expertise, provides funds for affiliated universities and colleges. A national body like AICTE is essential to ensure quality check in technical education. Earlier UGC proposed that independent B-schools are required to comply their guidelines and syllabus which may diminish autonomy of educational bodies. But for technical institute sustaining standards and quality does not make much difference if the authority is AICTE or the UGC.

- Saumay Gupta, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

AICTE control over technical institutions is necessary to ensure quality in technical education as UGC being an agency to offer grants, it had no technical expertise to ensure norms in technical institutions. In the UGC system, regulatory powers had ultimately came to state universities, resulting in increased state government meddling in their affairs. In the previous few years, in AICTE, the corruption has been ended and more transparency came in the system with entire Approval Process online. With AICTE as regulator, the colleges maintain better infrastructure, faculty, lab equipment, and library, among others, resulting into better studies and placements.

- Sourabh Jamer, Institute Of Chartered Accountants Of India, Mumbai.

Result following the petition by OTCA was necessary from the point of view of technical Institutions to ensure the quality in technical education in the country. UGC, that offers grants and had no technical expertise, deputed this role to state universities, which ultimately for technical institutions meant succumbing to the state government and its intervention in their affairs. Hence this move came as a much needed removal of apprehension for the technical institutions by getting them back in purview of AICTE.
- Rakshit Maheshwari, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

Technical institute plays a vital role in social and economic development of a nation. Every coin has two sides, likewise every decision has positive as well as negative impact. On one hand, we can say that AICTE controls the technical institutions to ensure the quality of technical education, while on other hand technical institutes remain powerless with AICTE control over them. The Indian Institutes of Technology is the best example of autonomous technical institute, which is best in their performance and it is not controlled by AICTE. Hence, technical institutes should be governed by market dynamics and not by AICTE.
- Himanshu Khatri, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Monday evening every week. Please ensure that your responses do not exceed 100 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name, institute's name, batch and complete mailing address. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Do you think IIMs should look to add more varied disciplines to their curriculum?