Hyderabad: AICTE circular puts varsities in a bind

Hyderabad: State universities found themselves at the receiving end, following a recent circular of All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) washing away its hands on the issue of equivalence certificates to the technical qualifications.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official from the Andhra Pradesh State Technical Education department said that there are several engineering colleges not considering those who have completed MCA with PhD to teach IT and Computer Sciences for BTech students.

Similarly, the MCA, MSc IT, electronics students were not allowed to take admission into PhD programmes in the Computer Sciences and Information Technology branches. But,the applicants stress that their qualifications fall under the allied branches and they are eligible for admission in the PhD course.

"This problem is not faced only in Andhra Pradesh, but also with candidates applying for jobs and admissions in several other states," he added.

Against this background, numerous requests are being sent to AICTE for the issue of equivalence certificates, for their qualifications, to enable them to apply for jobs and research admissions.

Clarifying on this, the AICTE sent a new circular that mentioned, it had already notified the major and core branches of engineering and technology and their relevant and appropriate courses leading to a degree in engineering technology, for the purpose of recruitment positions. But, the council continues to receive requests from the faculty members and the governments and directorates of technical education on the issue.

However, as per the current policy, it does not provide for the AICTE to issue, "Equivalence to the qualifications obtained from AICTE's approved institution / departments at any level for higher education purpose as well as for employment purpose."

It further said that it is up to the employer and the higher educational institutions to figure out the suitability for the employment and admission as per an earlier notification issued by the council.

When asked, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU-H), Registrar, Manzoor Husain said that those who have completed their MCA before 2010 are only eligible for teaching CSE and IT for BTech students in the engineering colleges as per the AICTE norms.

If there are any issues related to the equivalence, then, "the case will be presented to the Board of Studies to figure out to what extent equivalency could be issued," he added.