Kapil Sibal lays foundation stone for new AICTE building

Updated on: Friday, May 21, 2010

New Delhi: Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) laid the foundation stone of the head office building of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), here, today.

The building is to be constructed by the Defense Research Development Organisation (DRDO). Speaking on the occasion, Sibal stated that the future of the country depends on the quality of the education our youth get. In this regard, the AICTE has a very important role as it oversees the quality in technical education in the country.

He said, "To achieve the figure of Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 30 per cent by 2020, much will depend on how technical education in the country would evolve."

He also called upon technical education to look at building of huge capacities to cater to the expected level of demand.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary of Higher Education Vibha Puri Dass said, "AICTE has moved to a transparent regime of oversight and regulation. It now has a three fold task of taking forward the challenge for meeting the requirements of the Washington Accord, expansion of GER to 30 per cent by 2020 and imparting skills to the work force of the country."

AICTE in the recent past has introduced a number of reforms in its functioning. These reforms have brought in transparency and efficiency in the work of AICTE.

As per the announcement made by the Minister for Human Resource Development in a press conference on January 7, 2010, AICTE has initiated online processing of proposals, introduced a scheme for maximum utilization of resources by allowing second shift to operate for working people, has set up National Board of Accreditation (NBA) as a separate body, liberalized the process of granting approval for variation in intake capacity and has opened its camp office at Guwahati for development of technical education in the North Eastern States.

The Council has, to begin with, successfully introduced e-governance system in processing of the applications. The AICTE has received around 2100 applications for establishment of new institutions and around 10000 applications from existing institutions seeking various kinds of approvals. The last date for receiving such applications was 5th April, 2010. The processing of the applications has started and is at different stages.

Kapil Sibal lays foundation stone for new AICTE building

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