Govt refuses nod to IICT for admission through AIEEE

AU,a private university,has been promoted by the Ahmedabad Education Society with noted industrialists Sanjay Lalbhai,Sudhir Mehta,Pankaj Patel and eminent scientist R A Mashelkar on its board of governors.

IICT is the second institute in the state after Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DAIICT) fully dedicated to teaching of information and communication technology.

Having been approved

by the All India Council

for Technical Education (AICTE) to start initially with 60 students,the institute will run two courses — a four year B.Tech course and another integrated B.Tech & M.Tech dual degree programme of five years duration.

The number of seats will,however,be increased in phases by 2015.

AU registrar B M Shah,when contacted,said the institute would,however,at present,fill up the seats from candidates having passed the Gujarat Combined Entrance Test (Gujcet) and complete admissions through Joint Admission Committee for Professional Courses (JACPC) as is done by all other technical colleges in the state.

Sources in the state education department said IICT could not be given permission to admit students through AIEEE because only institutions having been granted the status of “centres of excellence” were qualified to admit students through AIEEE.

“After IICT achieves the level of centre of excellence,then it can be given permission to go for admitting students through AIEEE,” said a senior official in directorate of technical education.

The institutes with excellence prefer to admit candidates having cleared AIEEE because it allows them to get more talented students from across the nation and helps the institutes in raising their ranking among the professional colleges. Under GUJCET,institutes are allowed to admit students only from within the state.

However,another reason for some institutes now seeking the status of “centres of excellence” as contained in the Gujarat Technical Education Colleges or Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) (Amendment) Bill-2012 is the freedom to decide tuition fees.

The “centres of excellence” under the bill passed in the recently concluded budget session of the state Assembly,have been taken out of the purview of state government’s Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC).