Now, universities will have to sit for performance tests

The council has come up with a performance appraisal system for departments of engineering, technology, MBA, MCA, pharmacy, architecture, hotel management and catering technology in order to enforce accountability of such institutions and ascertain the financial needs of an institution on the basis of its standards of teaching, examination and research.

“Many such institutions offer post-graduate programmes for which we give grants and they need to be regulated. Hence, we have come up with parameters to regulate their performance,” said SS Mantha, AICTE chairman.

 The mandatory inspection and appraisal process will be rolled out from this year and would be based on factors such as class size, built-up area, land, infrastructure facilities, faculty, director and faculty-student ratio. The universities will also have to submit a mandatory online information on the AICTE website on technical programmes and courses being run after seeking the approval of the concerned authority before commencement of the programme.

 The performance appraisal applications will then be evaluated by a three-member scrutiny committee using an automated selection process provided on the AICTE website.

 At present, there are 40 central universities and 289 state universities in the country. Professional courses account for 19% of the total higher education enrolment. The move assumes significance as going by the number of new institutes sanctioned by the council, professional courses such as

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