AICTE, UGC approval mandatory for institutes offering BTech through distance learning mode

SC has mandated that institutes providing BTech and MTech courses in distance learning mode need to obtain the approval from AICTE and UGC. Read more here...In a recent development, the Supreme Court stated that those institutes which impart technical programmes to its students through distance learning mode will mandatorily need to seek approval and recognition of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

An exit test conducted by the AICTE to validate the unapproved degrees of several thousand engineers has strengthened its view that BTech courses done through distance education lack the necessary rigour.

The AICTE held the test four months ago for engineers who had obtained BTech and MTech degrees through the distance mode a decade ago from four particular universities. While 72 per cent of the MTech degree holders passed the regulator’s test, only 40 per cent of the BTech graduates did.

It was concluded that the PG students performed better since they must have pursued regular UG programme or passed from a better institute in a regular mode whereas poor result of UG students indicated that the engineering studies have been pursued directly after class 12^th in the distance education mode. According to officials, “The difference in the pass rates reinforces the theory that BTech courses conducted in the distance mode lack the necessary rigour.”

In November last year, the court did not validate the degrees of thousands of engineers who had secured their BTech and MTech degrees from four particular institutions between 2001 and 2005. This was done because their courses lacked the required approval.

These four universities are the Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth and the Institute of Advanced Studies in Education (Rajasthan), Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation (Tamil Nadu) and the Allahabad Agriculture Research Institute. These institutes had obtained post-facto approval for these courses from higher education regulator UGC but not from the technical education regulator.

The court mandated that these engineers needed to take an exit test, to be conducted by the council, for validation of their degrees.