New norms for technical institutes irk managements

CHANDIGARH - The new sets of norms announced by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for setting up institutions have disappointed the managements of technical institutes.

The Punjab Unaided Technical Institution Association (PUTIA) Friday said that the new norms would only make things harder for managements of institutes and for students.

“The AICTE has substantially increased the processing fees from colleges but on the other hand, the tuition fees have not been increased since last 10 years,” said J.S. Dhaliwal, president of PUTIA.

He pointed out that more than 90 per cent of institutes in Punjab were private and self-financed. “The increase in processing fees will impact students also because ultimately the burden will shift from the colleges to the students,” he added.

Anshu Kataria, chairman of the Aryans Group of Colleges (AGC) near Chandigarh, said: “Earlier the fixed deposit receipt (FDR) to start an engineering college was Rs.35 lakh (Rs.3.5 million), but now it has been increased to Rs.90 lakh (Rs.9 million) and for business administration, pharma and other colleges, the FDR has been increased from Rs.15 lakh (Rs.1.5 million) to Rs.35 lakh (Rs.3.5 million).”

“With this increase, it is not easy for the institutes to start any new projects or the expansion of existing projects,” Kataria added.

Dhaliwal added that over the last 8-10 years, the AICTE’s land norms have been the same despite land prices sky-rocketting.

PUTIA members are also upset that the AICTE has withdrawn the power from the state governments to approve polytechnics. They pointed out that the fee for such polytechnics has been hiked from Rs.15 lakh (Rs.1.5 million) to Rs.50 lakh (Rs.5 million).

However, appreciating the AICTE’s decision to allow the corporates to start educational institutes, Kataria said the entry of corporates into education sector will lead to healthy competition in this field and also ensure quality education for students.