For India’s engineering colleges, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is a lot like the Eye of Sauron—an all-seeing, all-powerful eye in the sky. It is the statutory body governing India’s technical institutes; nothing happens in the country’s technical education space without the AICTE’s monitoring and approval.
On the face of it, this is great. The AICTE oversees institutions like management schools, as well as engineering and pharmacy colleges.
accredit 'em all
Inspection out, accreditation in for India’s technical institutes
Physical verification is passé for AICTE. Instead, it's hoping accreditation will control the quality of the 10,000-plus institutes it oversees
The AICTE is doing away with physical inspection for approval of technical institutions, instead putting emphasis on accreditation
This highlights a shift from quantitative to qualitative assessment—in line with global standards—but Indian colleges are unfamiliar with the accreditation process
While over 10,000 institutes are AICTE-approved, the NBA, which accredits technical courses, has only accredited 2,075 courses
As AICTE looks to enforce accreditation-compliance by 2022, it has tapped some IITs to create a parallel accreditation body as well
