Question : ENTRY OF CORPORATE SECTION IN TECHNICAL EDUCATION

(a) whether the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has taken a decision to allow public/private limited companies and industries running with 100 crore turnover to start their own colleges and educational institutions;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the AICTE has issued any notification detailing the criteria and procedure to be followed by the applicants in this regard and if so, the details thereof;

(d) the number of companies that have come forward to avail this opportunity and start their own colleges;

(e) whether the said decision would equip students graduating from such industry-captive institutions to be industry-ready and instantly employable and if so, the details thereof;

(f) whether the Government has sounded the corporate sector of the said decision and assessed their keenness to invest in higher technical education; and

(g) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Dr. Shashi Tharoor)

(a) to (c): Yes, Sir. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has allowed Public/Private Limited Company/Industries with 100 crore turnover for the last three years to establish a new Technical Institution in Engineering and Technology, Pharmacy, Architecture & Town Planning, Hotel Management & Catering Technology (HMCT). Such Institutes shall be governed by the rules as in the Chapter-I of the Approval Process Handbook 2013-14. The detailed procedure for approval is given in the approval Process Handbook 2013-14 issued by AICTE which is available in the website www.aicte-india.org.

(d) AICTE has invited online applications for establishment of the Colleges under this scheme and the last date for receiving applications is 30.12.2012.

(e) to (g) :Technical Education , in whichever discipline it is conducted, needs to provide meaningful jobs in the various disciplines at all level within the industry in the various colleges. Hence the theoretical and practical training that is imparted to the students through their four year programme in the college affiliated to the University system needs to be contemporary viz-a-viz the curriculum.

It is further observed that the industry interaction within the framing of the curriculum has been limited to the point of view of being assisted by a few industry experts and a few projects given by the industry at the final year level. Hence there are several reports by industry based organizations commenting on the lack of adequate skills in the technical education imparted to the students, leading to reduced employability.

In the light of the above, AICTE has reviewed the curriculum and has come up with a model curriculum to involve industry best practices. In order to facilitate the stake holders, the model curriculum is available on the AICTE website.