Colleges not happy with new norms

Colleges are not too sure if All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) interfering in curriculum and examination patterns will work. Kiran Wadhwa reports.

Colleges are not too sure if All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) interfering in curriculum and examination patterns will work. Institutes said that the flexibility of curriculum is what keeps them ahead of the curve and allows them to meet industry requirements.

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“An autonomous PGDM course was created with the idea that colleges can design it to match industry standards and have the flexibility to change it without any bureaucratic processes. The whole purpose will now be defeated,” said RK Shrivastava, director, SIES College of Management, Nerul.

While colleges are for the council ensuring transparency, they feel that everyone is being penalised just because of a few black sheep.

The All India Association of Management Colleges has even met Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal this week to discuss these new norms.
They have even involved industry bodies to appeal to the government to rethink these new rules. “Interference especially in curriculum and admission would have serious repercussions in the quality of institutes. While we are aiming to meet global standards and these government norms will strangulate us,” said a senior faculty member of SP Jain, one of the top management institutes in the country.

One of the other reforms that colleges are against is a common admission procedure for PGDM courses.

Currently, institutes have the freedom to choose their students based on their criteria but now the respective state authorities (in Maharashtra the Directorate of Technical Education) will look after admissions.

“PGDM course is currently based only on merit without reservations of any sort. But the fact remains that all the state admissions do have reservations. This will definitely dilute the quality of students coming in thus impacting their performance,” said faculty member from a reputed city B-school.