A pragmatic shift in the annual approval process was necessitated and adopted by AICTE by innovating the entire process through a novel online mechanism for undertaking the scrutiny of documents and virtual visit of the technical institutions. The lockdown imposed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 had created severe challenges to all sectors of governance. AICTE converted the current crisis into grand opportunity by adopting e-governance mechanisms thereby reducing the costs with no travel and enhancing the reliability, accuracy and overall transparency of the regulatory process.
The approval process for year 2020-2021 was a considerable departure from the previous years on several counts. Due to the imposition and subsequent extensions of lockdown, the approval process was delayed. It was initiated in the month of May 2020 and was completed in end Jun 2020. Moreover, the rigorous scrutiny which heretofore was undertaken physically at various regional offices was conducted via an online process. This involved using online Video-Conferencing for stakeholders to connect, verification of infrastructure & campus facilities virtually and uploading digitally signed documents.
Even though new Management and Polytechnic Engineering Institutes have added seats, there has been reduction in AICTE Approved Seats for Academic Year 2020-2021 which is attributable to the following:
1. As per recent Supreme Court judgement, for functioning of existing & setting up of new Architecture and Pharmacy colleges, approval of only ‘Council of Architecture’ and ‘Pharmacy Council of India’ respectively will be mandatory w.e.f. Academic Year 2020-2021. As a result, the approval of AICTE has been made non-mandatory. Consequently, many of these colleges have withdrawn their affiliation & approval from AICTE resulting in bulk reduction of seats. Effectively, the seats of pharmacy & architecture have now been taken over by their respective regulatory bodies.
2. Few AICTE Approved Colleges have not sought approval this year in view of large number of seats lying vacant over the last 5 years thus making it unviable for continuing the institution.
3. As per AICTE Policy & Guidelines, there has been 50% reduction in seats in colleges where, enrolment has been less than 30 percent of approved intake consecutively for last 5 years.
Details of Seats / Institutes are at Annexure – A.
Annexure – A
AICTE Approval Process Statistics 2020 – 21
Sl. No. | Description / Particulars |
Seats |
Institutes |
Academic Year 2019-20 |
|||
01 |
Total Seats & Institutes Sanctioned for AY 2019-20 |
32,09,703 |
10,992 |
Academic Year 2020-21 : Reduction in seats |
|||
02 |
Total Seats & Institutes Sanctioned for AY 2020-21 |
30,88,512 |
9,691 |
03 |
Number of Seats and Institutes reduced as a result of Hon’ble Supreme Court judgement rendering approval of AICTE non mandatory in respect of Architecture & Pharmacy institutes. These seats are not abolished but continuing with PCI & COA. |
1,09,316 |
1,252 |
04 |
Seats & Institutes reduced due to closure of the institute for AY 2020-21 |
34,553 |
179 |
05 |
Seats / Institutes reduced due to Reduction in Intake (Course Closure/Division Closure) for AY 2020-21 |
69,965 |
762 |
06 |
Seats / Institutes reduced due Non Submission of Application for AY 2020-21 Approval (Other than Sr no 3 Institutions) |
40,578 |
134 |
07 |
Seats / Institutes reduced due to Punitive Action by AICTE for AY 2020-21 (No Admission/Withdrawal of Approval) |
8,832 |
44 |
Academic Year 2020-21 : New Seats |
|||
08 |
Number Seats / Institutes added due to Approval of New institutes for AY 2020-21 |
39,656 |
164 |
09 |
Total Seats / Institutes added due to Application for new courses / increase in Intake in existing Institutes for AY 2020-21 |
1,02,397 |
1,311 |