The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) on Thursday, March 23, announced the lifting of the three-year moratorium on opening new engineering and technical colleges, starting from the 2023-24 academic session.
In addition, AICTE has abolished the minimum land requirement criterion for establishing or operating technical institutions. The previous two-year ban on new engineering institute openings, imposed by the technical education regulator due to a drop in engineering programme enrollments, has been lifted.
"Moratorium for establishing new institution in engineering and technology has been lifted from AY (academic year) 2023-24. However, for establishing a new institution in engineering and technology, preference shall be given to the applicant offering courses in multi-disciplinary area in-line with NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 in STEM," the AICTE said in its new approval guidelines.
An expert committee led by IIT-Hyderabad Board of Governors Chairman B V R Mohan Reddy recommended lifting the moratorium on new engineering and technical colleges, which the AICTE has now approved.
The council also eliminated the minimum land requirement criterion for starting or running technical institutions. In addition, the AICTE's Approval Process Handbook for 2023-24 requires existing institutions seeking approval for their technical programmes to obtain approval for all programmes offered.
The decision was made after official statistics showed a decline in the total intake of AICTE-approved engineering institutions. "If it is found that any institution has taken partial approval, then their approval accorded shall be subsequently withdrawn. The submission of online applications for the academic year 2023-24 will begin on March 23 and will go on till April 6, 2023," it said stated a report by PTI.
In other significant changes, the council has relaxed land norms for the institutions, asking for greater focus on the built-up area so that institutions can offer multi-disciplinary programmes.
"Now on the basis of the covered area along with Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and Floor Space Index (FSI), one will be able to start or run the technical institutions," it said.
Core engineering branches suggested in the AICTE handbook are Agriculture Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Food Technology, Industrial Engineering, Instrumentation, and Mechanical Engineering stated a report by PTI.
Emerging area courses include Microelectronics and VLSI, Smart Mobility, EV-Technology, Transportation, Highway Engineering, Renewable Energy, Climate Change, Earth System Sciences, 5G, Sustainable Development and Circular Economy, Waste Management, Product Design, CRISPR Cas 9, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Embedded SW, Internet SW, Mobility, Analytics, Cloud Computing, etc.
"Now onwards the merger of different PG diploma and MBA programmes will also be allowed as long as the student-teacher ratio is maintained. Also, engineering institutions must have at least three core branches already and unlike previous years, institutions can apply for multiple programmes from the 2023-24 session," it said as reported by PTI.
