SC breather to AP’s MBA, MCA colleges
College managements welcome SC decision
Universities in the state will get complete control over MBA and MCA colleges from this year, thanks to the recent Supreme Court judgement that ruled that MBA/MCA colleges affiliated to state universities are not required to take approval from the All India Council for Technical Education for running these courses. AP has the highest number of MBA/MCA colleges in the country, at nearly 1,600.
Managements of these colleges welcomed the decision. They will now be spared the annual expenditure of `4 lakh — the inspection fee they pay each year to AICTE for renewal of approval. Henceforth, the affiliating universities will monitor the standards in these colleges and grant approvals.
The SC on April 25 ruled that MBA is not a technical course within the definition of the AICTE Act. It stated, “Approval from the AICTE is not required for running an MBA course by the appellant colleges.”
The court held that MCA was a technical course, but ruled that the AICTE had no business laying down standards for the course as the UGC Act is already in place for the same.
“The AICTE’s role was advisory and it could only impose uniform standards of education in affiliated colleges of a university by putting a note to the UGC,” the bench said.
Though the Supreme Court ruling would give academic freedom to private colleges to run MBA/MCA courses without AICTE approval, there are still serious concerns about how to check the mushrooming of sub-standard colleges with poor infrastructure and under-qualified faculty. The inspections carried out by state universities every year to grant affiliation are a farce because the limited staff is not able to inspect hundreds of colleges within a limited period.
“The standards in management education have already deteriorated. If universities fail to take effective measures, the newfound freedom may be misused by some unscrupulous elements,” said N. Ramesh, chairman of Consortium of Engineering and Professional Colleges’ Management Association of AP.