First, AICTE swoops down on institutions offering programs in engineering, issuing them a notice demanding that they get its approval by March 7, 2006 or else. The students panic, go to their respective colleges or university administrations, and seek a clarification about meaning of this AICTE notice. When they don't get a straight answer -- or worse, when they do get one, with all its nasty implications -- they organize protests, some of which lead to violence. Things get pretty rough, particularly at Sathyabama and SRM (both deemed universities).
And then, there is a lull on the streets, and the tussle between AICTE and the colleges/universities is fought in the courts. Both the parties plot their next legal moves. The colleges are set to reopen soon. In the meantime, a student of Satyabama was reported to have commiteed suicide.
Some observations:
- Several people commented on the timing of AICTE notices. It appeared that the institutions were issued these notices a long time ago, but the notices were stayed by a court, and the stay order was revoked sometime in October of 2005. So, this issue had been simmering for a while, and appeared to have reached a flash point. It was not clear if AICTE did anything to make it flare up, but I did not see anything untoward in AICTE's actions; being a bureaucracy, it was (probably) just following routine procedures.
- I don't think there was any dispute about how, after they obtained the 'deemed university' status, these institutions expanded their intake of students by as much as 5 times and introduced new programs. Their case that their status as Deemed Universities gave them these rights -- and that they were not fettered by other regulatory authorities such as AICTE -- was utterly laughable. From a legal viewpoint, AICTE was on a strong wicket; except, of course, that the legal process were to be subverted.
- If AICTE did prevail, the institutions and their managers should have been given strong, exemplary punishments. However, their students -- victims, really -- should have been allowed to transfer to other institutions. Both were unlikely.
- I expected the market for engineering programs were not going to be a sellers' one in the coming years.
- Finally, the highly deplorable role of UGC -- the organization that granted these less-than-stellar institutions the status of a Deemed University -- should have come under harsh scrutiny. I don't know who should have done it, but I certainly did not see our mainstream media doing it. Sigh!
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