subject: Modified Method To Be Mandatory For All Tech Colleges From 2011-12 [print this page] The All India Council for Technical Education's (AICTE) tuition fee waiver scheme (TFWS) for the economically backward, women, and physically handicapped students, will be mandatory for alltechnical institutions from the academic year (AY) 2011-12.
The scheme, announced in April 2007, allows a technical institutions like engineering colleges, pharmacy and hospitality colleges, among others, to effect additional admissions against the sanctioned intake for a given course, by extending total tuition fee waiver to students in equal proportion of the additional seats.
As of now, against the sanctioned intake of 60 seats for a given course, an institution is allowed to fill 10 per cent, ie, six additional seats under the TFWS the break-up being three seats for the economically backward, two for women and one for physically handicapped students. However, the scheme operates on a voluntary basis for the institutes.
To make it mandatory, the AICTE has now modified the scheme by reducing the TFWS intake from the existing 10 per cent to five per cent on a supernumerary basis, ie, over and above the sanctioned intake for a given course. For a sanctioned intake of 60 seats, the TWFS intake will now be three seats, one each for the eligible categories.
In Maharashtra, the directorate of technical education (DTE) had introduced the scheme from AY 2008-09, but there were few takers in the initial years. The scheme was made mandatory for all government-run institutions from 2010-11 but private unaided institutions were left out. The AICTE's latest move means that all private unaided institutions will fall within the ambit of the TFWS.
The modified scheme comes as part of several key changes in the norms for approval of new technical institutions from AY 2011-12, which were announced recently by the HRD minister, Kapil Sibal.
Some of these changes relate to expansion of the scope to set up integrated campuses, incentives for accreditation, provision for good corporates to set up technical institutions, and enhanced student intake for the architecture course, among others.
The role of the state governments in the approval process for new polytechnics has been eliminated as the revised norms provide for AICTE as the sole approving authority. "We were fighting for this cause for some time now in the Bombay high court," said Shridhar Vaidya, president of theTeachers Association for Non-Aided Polytechnics (TAFNAP).
Till AY 2010-11, all applications for new polytechnics were being routed through the regional joint director's (technical) office to the DTE and finally, to a state-level committee, before they would come to the AICTE for approval. "We had challenged this process in the high court on the grounds that only the AICTE was the approving authority and the state government had no role in the process," said Vaidya.
The changes further provide for setting up of stand-alone post-graduate institutions, establishment of overseas campuses as well as awarding of Indian degrees at such campuses, subject to local laws and clearance by the Indian government. The council has also facilitated good corporates to establish technical institutions under Section 25 of the Company's Act.
The council has allowed institutions to conduct skill development courses in evening batches from 5 pm to 8 pm, as a part of their social responsibility initiatives. This is aimed at catering to the communities living around the institutions.
The sanctioned student intake for the architecture course has been raised from 40 to 60 seats per division, while institutes offering multiple technical programme can now be part of the integrated campuses. Till now, institutes offering only one specified programme like engineering, pharmacy, architecture, management and hotel management were allowed to be part of integrated campuses. Now, institutes running two or more engineering colleges, management colleges and likewise can be run from an integrated campus.
The post-graduate diploma courses in management will now come under stricter regulation. The AICTE has further provided for Std XII passouts with vocational or technical subjects from the state boards, to secure lateral entry to second-year diploma courses. Similarly, BSc degree holders can seek second-year lateral entry to the engineering course, but will have to clear additional subjects like engineering graphics and engineering mechanics.
