Pune, May 9: Taking objection to the “encroachment” on its authority by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), the University of Pune will now take up a statewide intervention along with all non-agricultural universities in the state to formulate a strategy and prepare a report for the government. This was announced by Pune University Vice Chancellor Narendra Jadhav at a press conference on Wednesday.
The AICTE, which has been empowered by the Parliamentary Act of the Central Government for regulating colleges, had earlier announced in a notice put up on its website that 169 educational institutions had been running courses without prior AICTE sanction. The University of Pune is not supposed to give affiliation to colleges not approved by AICTE.
However, heads of institutions have protested against the restrictions placed on them, by saying that they were already affiliated to the Pune University. This issue came up for discussion at the academic council meeting held on Tuesday, when members demanded that the Vice Chancellor initiate intervention on the matter.
“Many of the institutes listed by the AICTE as unapproved are already affiliated to the University. This can be viewed as an encroachment of the University’s authority. Besides, the regulations being placed on the institutes are also not reasonable,” said Jadhav.
Objections by institution heads had also been raised at the Senate meeting on March 22, following which a seven-member committee had been formed to formulate a policy on the issue.
Taking this further, Jadhav said that a meeting would be held at the state-level with vice chancellors of all non-agricultural universities and heads of major institutions to discuss the issue at length, and prepare a detailed report to be submitted to the government.
