‘Catering, business management schools form bulk of errant institutes’
With counselling in full swing, the recent announcement in the Lok Sabha that Tamil Nadu has 11 fake engineering colleges could not have come at a worse time. However, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has clarified that the unapproved institutions primarily comprised catering and management colleges, quelling the panic among students.
Responding to a member’s query recently whether the government was aware of the number of fake engineering colleges in the country and if they had been identified, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Satya Pal Singh gave a break-up of the institutions. The member also wanted to know how many such institutions had been identified in the last three years.
The Minister said the AICTE had issued individual letters and public notices to the institutions and the State governments concerned instructing them to seek the council’s approval for conducting technical education programmes or close down.
277 dubious institutions
According to the AICTE, as many as 277 ‘fake’ institutions functioned in the country and 11 of them were operating in Tamil Nadu.
“They are the ones who have not taken approval. They are not approved by the AICTE or affiliated to the respective universities. If they are not approved by the AICTE, then they are not approved by the university also. They will not be able to give degrees. These colleges may give some certificate or diploma which is not recognised for purposes of higher education or government jobs. Someone is giving training, which may be useful for some person; but the course will not have any recognition, unless the council has approved it. The details of the colleges are available on the AICTE’s website,” said council chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe.
On how the institutions could keep the affiliating university in the dark, he said: “A college has to first take approval from the AICTE; only then it can go to the university. Some people advertise that they are giving diplomas but the State government is not aware, and they are not approved by the State government. If someone takes admission, it is at his own risk. The AICTE and the UGC have put up details of the colleges on their website.”
The AICTE has a list 11 unapproved institutions on its website. These include institutions running hotel management, business management and human resource development courses.