In a recent judgment from the Supreme Court of India, the All India Council for Technical Education was disallowed to give approval to private MBA and MCA colleges. This write-up gives information into the matter.
MBA and MCA courses from private institutes in India will no longer need the consent from the All India Council for Technical Education. Two sought after professional programs by millions of students, private B-schools in India used to conduct the programs after receiving approval from AICTE. Supreme Court, the apex court in India, on 21st April 2013 announced that no private institutes in India will require permission of the council.
Justice V Gopala and Justice BS Chauhan gave this new ruling keeping in mind the act of AICTE. Under the act, any non-technical course cannot come under the council’s ambit. MBA is not a technical educational program, and hence requires no permission from AICTE.
For MCA programs, even though technical education program, consent from AICTE makes no sense as there is already a University Grants Commission (UGC) in place. AICTE was an advisory body and hence and the role is limited to set standards for private institutes affiliated with any Indian university. The board can give messages of similar types to the UGC.
With this court ruling, AICTE is left red –faced. Before this verdict, the council of technical education had made it compulsory to private universities offering MBA or MCA programs to get consent.
AICTE approved Private colleges in India affiliated to any university
• More than 3,500 B-schools in India with nearly 3.7 lakh seats have taken permission.
• About 1,937 MCA colleges in the country catering to 1.9 lakh MCA aspirants also received consent from the council.
Academic Freedom or Unnecessary Advantage
B-schools welcomed this judgment. But many Educational experts feel this can lead to more colleges coming with such courses. This ruling will only prompt many such private colleges in India to start with any set standards. Many colleges can come up without meeting the standards of running such programs.
Until now, private colleges in India with the process of approval system in place used to maintain the standards. With this new verdict, many colleges in midst of approval process can simply go ahead and start functioning.
In the past, there are instances of many colleges seeking approval without any proper set up. Controversial colleges, which faced a rejection earlier for lacking infrastructural facilities, can misuse this ruling. It is feared the private colleges offering hotel management and similar programs will enjoy similar freedom.
SS Mantha, chairman, AICTE, expressed his disagreement and said they will file a review petition. He further added that this decision could lead to unstructured mushrooming of colleges and many private colleges can exploit students. AICTE’ s chairman also said just by a decision, years of hard work by them cannot be suddenly made wrong.
About AICTE:
The All India Council for Technical Education started in the year 1945, with the sole aim to monitor technical colleges. In 1987, it received statutory power by AICTE act of the parliament. Presently, the council regulates private colleges in India in engineering, management, MCA, hotel management, pharmacy, architecture and town planning, and applied arts and crafts.
About UGC:
The University Grants Commission (UGC) of India is a legal organization started in 1956 by the central government. It was chiefly formed to maintain the educational standards of numerous universities across India. The body recognizes institutions into universities and coordinates with various universities. Headquarted in Delhi, the organization has regional centers in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Guwahati and Pune.
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