All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) was set up in November 1945 as a national-level apex advisory body to conduct a survey on the facilities available for technical education and to promote development in the country in a coordinated and integrated manner.
- It comes under the aegis of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development.
- It is a statutory body and is the national council for technical education in the country
- It is the national-level council for technical education responsible for planning and coordination of technical education and management of the education system in the country.
- It accredits graduate and postgraduate programs at Indian institutions.
- It is headquartered in New Delhi.
And to ensure the same, as stipulated in the National Policy of Education (1986), AICTE was vested with:
- Statutory authority for planning, formulation, and maintenance of norms & standards
- Quality assurance through accreditation
- Funding in priority areas, monitoring, and evaluation
- Maintaining parity of certification & awards
- The management of technical education in the country.
Objectives of AICTE
All India Statutory Council For Technical Education (AICTE) attained the statutory status in the year 1987 under the AICTE Act. As per the National Policy of Education (1986), AICTE was established with the following objectives:
- To plan, formulate and maintain the norms and standards by acting as a statutory authority.
- To provide quality assurance through accreditation.
- To monitor, evaluate and provide funding for the priority areas.
- Maintaining parity of certification & awards.
- To manage and develop the technical education system of India.
A National Working Group was also constituted by the Government of India under the Ministry of Human Resource Development to look into the role of AICTE for the proliferation of various technical institutions, maintenance of standards, and other related matters. The National Working Group also initiated for providing statutory authority to AICTE along with restructuring and strengthening it with necessary infrastructure to make it more effective.
VISION
To be a world-class organization leading technological and socio-economic development of the country by enhancing the global competitiveness of technical manpower and by ensuring high-quality technical education to all sections of the society
Roles & Responsibilities of AICTE
- AICTE grants approval for the extension of existing institutes, the launch of new courses and continuation of approval after a break in the preceding academic year.
- AICTE grants approval for the setting up of new technical institutes in India that offer technical education courses at Diploma/ Degree/ PG/ Post Diploma/ PG Diploma level.
- It is also the responsibility of AICTE to grant approval for the change of site or location of a technical institute.
- AICTE initiates the process of closure of technical institutes if the respective institutes apply for the same.
- AICTE grants approval to institutes that want to convert into Co-Ed institutes from Women’s institution and vice-versa.
- AICTE grants approval for the increase of intake/addition of new courses in the first/ regular shift in the existing technical institutes.
Initiatives Undertaken
▪ Facilitation through Margadarshan and Margadarshak
– Margadarshan: Under this scheme:
- Institutions having good accreditation records or the top-performing institutions are selected to mentor relatively newer 10 to 12 potential institutions.
- Best teaching and learning practices followed in the mentor institute will be simulated in the identified mentee institutions.
- The mentee institutions will also be provided with funding up to Rs. 50 lakhs (per institution) over a period of three years (in instalments), for carrying out various activities like training, workshops, conferences, etc.
– Margdarshak: Under this scheme:
- The mentor teachers or the Margdarshaks, who are either serving or are superannuated, with good knowledge of accreditation and are willing and motivated to devote adequate time to the mentee Institutions are identified.
- These Margdarshaks will regularly visit the identified mentee institutions, stay on their campus and guide them for the improvement in their quality so that institutions are able to get accreditation by the National Board of Accreditation.
Reforms
In 2016 three important initiatives were taken up by AICTE:
- Responsibility is given by MHRD to evolve a national MOOCs platform ‘SWAYAM’.
- Launching a Smart India Hackathon-2017 challenging the young bright talented students of technical colleges to solve the 598 problems of 29 different
- Government departments.
- Launching of an AICTE’s Student Startup Policy
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