NAMAKKAL: Acting on demands from several State Governments including Tamil Nadu, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided not to approve new engineering colleges from the academic year 2013-14.“Several State Governments had requested us not to clear the applications for starting new engineering colleges. They have cited the incidence of growing number of vacant BE/BTech seats in the existing colleges.So the council has taken a decision not to sanction approval for new applicants from 2013-14,” AICTE Member Secretary K P Isaac told the Express here on Thursday.Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are among the States which are opposed to opening of new technical institutions as there has been an exponential growth in the number of colleges, while the demand for admission has scaled down in recent years. Besides, managing quality in the existing institutions has become a Herculean task for the regulatory authorities.Isaac, who was here to address the 11th ISTE State Level Annual Student Convention at the Mahendra Institute of Technology at Mallasamudram, revealed that this year 108 trusts had applied to the AICTE seeking sanction for starting engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu. Across the country, 600 applications have been received for starting colleges in 2012-13.“These applications will be considered by the council and eligible cases will be cleared in two batches. The first batch will be given the nod by the end of March and the second by April 30”, he said.Touching upon several initiatives taken by the AICTE to bridge the gap between industry and institutions, he said the council spends Rs 10 lakh for the industry- institution interaction cell which is aimed at creating an interface between the two.
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