The All India Council of Technical Education’s (AICTE) list of unapproved management and engineering schools has come as a shocker for institutions and students as names of high-profile colleges have appeared in the blacklist.
The blacklist contains 43 institutes, including six engineering colleges, while the rest are management schools. Some of the big names like Indian School of Business (ISB), Badruka Institute of Foreign Trade and Indian Institute of Planning and Management have been added to the list.
The blacklisted institutions will not be allowed to admit students to degree or diploma courses. The Department of Technical Education, Andhra Pradesh, which has updated its list of institutions following the advice by AICTE, noted that most of the management schools in the blacklist offer one-year management degree programmes which are not approved by the AICTE.
“It is not new as it happens every year. The ISB never approached the Council for recognition. Now, it became an annual event where the ISB is placed in the unproved list. All they have to do is formally approach the AICTE for approval,” a senior official in the department said.
An ISB spokesperson on Saturday said the management programme offered by the institution “is one of the best courses in the country” and said it need not have a stamp of approval from the council. “In fact, the ISB is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and is the first business school in South Asia to be recognised by this premier global body. Since its inception, the ISB has been offering one-year courses which now became a norm with other schools like IIMs. However, we are in touch with the AICTE,” he added.
However, 18 of the institutions in the list of 43 in AP require to seek affiliation from different universities.
Reacting to AICTE’s black list, mathematician and MLC Chukka Ramaiah said: “These institutions (not ISB) have violated several norms set by the council and they are charging exorbitant fees. Action still needs to be taken but I don’t know why the state government is not acting in this regard.”