The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has directed all engineering and technical colleges to ensure their faculty members do not participate in conferences organised by countries that are not recognised by the Indian government.

The stern directive by the technical education regulator came following an objection raised by the Cyprus government with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after some Indian academics participated in a conference organised in the occupied part of the Republic of Cyprus.

“The Ministry of External Affairs received a letter from the High Commission of the Republic of Cyprus sharing their concern recently after many Indian academicians participated in the 5th International Conference on Natural Resources and Sustainable Environment Management (November 8-12, 2021),” a senior AICTE official said.

The conference was organised virtually by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the “illegal” North East University in the occupied part of the Republic of Cyprus.

“The high commission expressed deep concerns regarding the participation of Indian academicians in the conference. All the affiliated institutions have been directed to not allow their faculty members to participate in such conferences," the official said.

“The institutions have also been asked to instruct their faculty members to not become party to any event organised in states or countries not recognised by the Indian government,” the official added.

Earlier this year, the education ministry had said Indian universities and professors will have to get prior approval from the Ministry of External Affairs to hold online international conferences that are centred around “sensitive subjects”, events relating to national security, or which are “clearly related to India's internal matters”. However, the guidelines were later revised.