AICTE to rank colleges, seek inputs

AICTE to rank colleges, seek inputs

CHENNAI: The AICTE will soon be ranking technical institutions across the country and involving stakeholders of these institutions in decision-making by seeking their recommendations on various key issues.

AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe on Friday met regional AICTE directors of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry along with the heads and representatives of technical institutions in these states in Chennai. At the meeting, Sahasrabudhe announced that the technical body would start the ranking process in three months.


The AICTE rankings of the institutions will be based on several parameters such as quality of infrastructure, quality of faculty and output, research and innovation, placements, entrepreneurial activities and collaborations with other institutions, among others.

Anna University in Tamil Nadu had introduced a similar ranking system of all engineering colleges under it, but this is based only on academic results, semester-wise.

This was the first such meeting by the AICTE chairman who will be travelling to several states over the next 10 days to discuss the future of technical institutions. During these meetings, the AICTE will also seek suggestions on changes to be made in administrative matters, be it setting up of new institutions or closure of existing ones.

"The meetings are being held to discuss a holistic development of institutions in the country. We are hoping that these interactions will help both the AICTE and the institution stakeholders to have a mutual understanding about the issues regarding quality and functionality of colleges," he said.

Some of the issues raised during the meeting in Chennai was the teacher-faculty ratio, cadre ratio, availability of PhD scholars for teacher posts and autonomy. There would be, however, some demands that the AICTE may find difficult to accept. A senior academician who participated in the meeting said that representatives of some colleges felt that the existing teacher faculty ratio of 1:15 should be revised to 1: 20. This, academics feel, may dilute the quality of learning.

Some of the institutions also said that PhD qualification for the post of associate professors in institutions should not be mandated as there is a lack of PhD scholars to be appointed in institutions. "We find it hard to fill these positions as we need qualified doctorates for these posts. We hope that these recommendations will help in bringing about a revision in some of the policies," said an academician who wished to be anonymous.

The next meeting will be in Bangalore, when the AICTE chairman will hear out representatives of Karnataka and Kerala colleges.