AICTE spells trouble for institutes

Professional educational institutes could be in trouble as AICTE has announced its new norms.

Professional educational institutes could be in trouble if the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has its way. These institutes might have to close shop or slash courses as the new AICTE norms stipulate that no technical educational institute can operate in the country without the council's nod and land of its own.

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"It was felt that the new guidelines were necessary to introduce quality technical education and the recommendations were made by experts," said AICTE vice-chairperson RA Yadav. Procuring land for the institutes has also become costlier as the urban development authorities like the DDA and the BMC do not allocate land at concessional (institutional) rates.

Land is now auctioned at market rates. In a recent instance, the Amity Educational Society purchased land whose base price was Rs 9 crore for Rs 20 crore. "Earlier, the same plot could have been procured for not more than Rs 2 crore," the head of an educational society said. He hinted that this could jack up the admission fee.