The moratorium on opening of new engineering and technical colleges, which was put in place three years ago, will be lifted from the 2023-24 academic session, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) announced on Thursday.

The council has also done away with the minimum land requirement criterion for starting or running technical institutions.

The technical education regulator had imposed a two-year ban from the academic year 2020-21 on opening of new engineering institutes due to a declining number of admissions in engineering programmes.

“Moratorium for establishing new institution in engineering and technology has been lifted from AY (academic year) 2023-24. However, for establishing a new institution in engineering and technology, preference shall be given to the applicant offering courses in multi-disciplinary area in-line with NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 in STEM,” the AICTE said in its new approval guidelines.

The AICTE decided to lift the moratorium on the recommendation of an expert committee led by IIT-Hyderabad Board of Governors Chairman B V R Mohan Reddy, on whose suggestion the ban had been first advised in 2019.

According to official statistics, the total intake in AICTE-approved engineering institutions had declined from 26.95 lakh seats in 2012-13 to 23.66 lakh seats in 2021-22.

While launching the Approval Process Handbook for 2023-24, the AICTE said existing institutions willing to take its approval for their technical programme will also have to obtain approval for all technical programmes offered.

“If it is found that any institution has taken partial approval, then their approval accorded shall be subsequently withdrawn. The submission of online applications for academic year 2023-24 will begin on March 23 and will go on till April 6, 2023,” it said.

In other significant changes, the council has relaxed land norms for the institutions, asking for greater focus on the built-up area so that institutions can offer multi-disciplinary programmes.

“Now on the basis of the covered area along with Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and Floor Space Index (FSI), one will be able to start or run the technical institutions,” it said.

Core engineering branches suggested in the AICTE handbook are Agriculture Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Food Technology, Industrial Engineering, Instrumentation, and Mechanical Engineering.

Emerging area courses include Microelectronics and VLSI, Smart Mobility, EV-Technology, Transportation, Highway Engineering, Renewable Energy, Climate Change, Earth System Sciences, 5G, Sustainable Development and Circular Economy, Waste Management, Product Design, CRISPR Cas 9, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Embedded SW, Internet SW, Mobility, Analytics, Cloud Computing, etc.

“Now onwards the merger of different PG diploma and MBA programmes will also be allowed as long as the student-teacher ratio is maintained. Also engineering institutions must have at least three core branches already and unlike previous years, institution can apply for multiple programmes from the 2023-24 session,” it said.

Source: PTI

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