Anna Univ may do online verification for affiliation of engineering colleges

Physical Inspection Of Universities Not Possible Due To Covid-19 Crisis

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:05.05.2020

Anna University may switch to online verification of details instead of physical inspection of colleges for granting affiliation due to Covid-19 crisis. For next academic year (2020-21), 536 engineering and standalone MBA, MCA colleges in the state sought the extension of affiliation from Anna university.

The inspection of engineering colleges started in the first week of March and it was stopped after two weeks following the Covid-19 spread. Sources said the inspection was conducted in more than 200 colleges before it was stopped.

“In view of Covid-19, it is not possible to resume inspection of engineering colleges this year,” sources said.

The inspection committees check on infrastructure facilities like lab and classrooms, faculty-students ratio, cadre ratio in departments and also verify PhD degree certificates. Citing the Covid-19 crisis, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has granted extension of approval for institutions based on self-disclosure if there is no change in their applications from last year’s approval.

Further, AICTE has also gone to the Supreme Court seeking extension of time till June 15 for scrutinising the applications from colleges with changes in intake, seeking approval for new courses and establishing new institutions. As per the approval process handbook, the deadline for granting approval was April  30. AICTE also announced that it would use online meeting platforms for conducting the scrutiny of applications for institutions intend to start new courses or for establishing new institutions.

“We intend to follow AICTE’s approval process for granting affiliation this year,” said M K Surappa, vice-chancellor of Anna University.