Mumbai: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has approved 192 new divisions in engineering and management institutes across the state dedicated to teaching working professionals looking to upgrade their educational qualifications.
About The New AICTE Policy
The institutes, which include some of the prominent engineering colleges in the state, will be able to admit working professionals for special weekend and evening classes from this academic year 2024-25 as part of a new AICTE policy. The state Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell will soon begin a Centralised Admission Process (CAP) for these programmes.
While 69 of the new divisions will be opened in polytechnics offering engineering diplomas, the remaining 123 divisions belong to undergraduate and post-graduate engineering courses, Master of Business Administration (MBA)/Master of Management Studies (MMS), Post Graduation Diploma in Management (PGDM) and Master of Computer Applications (MCA). The number of seas in a single division ranges from 15 to 60.
The Mumbai region, which covers the city and the districts in Konkan, got 30 new divisions for UG and PG courses, including five at Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Matunga and two at Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE) for various engineering streams. Three management colleges have been permitted to offer MMS and PGDM programmes, while three polytechnics have eight divisions for working professionals. College of Engineering Pune (CoEP) is another popular institute that will offer four courses under this scheme.
The aspiring professionals will be able to enrol in one of these programmes at an institute which is within a 75km radius of their workplace. The candidates need to have a minimum of one year of fulltime or regular work experience. The course duration for these programmes will be decided by the affiliating university or institute.
The principal of one of the institutes offering these courses said that they have received an overwhelming response from aspirants.
“We don't know what will be the admission process or on what basis will the seats be allotted,” he said.
Principal Of Thadomal Shahani Engineering College On The New Policy
Gopakumaran Thampi, principal of Thadomal Shahani Engineering College in Bandra, said that while these programmes help working professionals get a higher degree, maintaining their quality will be a challenge.
“There's a possibility that the private institutes running these programmes might dilute the course,” he said.
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