Intending to maintain uniform quality and academic standards across Management and Computer Application programmes, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided to regulate technical institutions offering BBA, BMS, and BCA courses from 2024-25. Till now, AICTE was regulating only postgraduate courses like MBA and MCA.
University Grant Commission (UGC) has informed all the public universities to communicate this to all its affiliated institutions which are offering or intend to offer courses in BBA, BMS and BCA for compliance.
Technical education and its related aspects are controlled and governed by the AICTE Act of 1987. According to this Act, technical education, research, training in engineering technology, architecture, town planning, management, pharmacy, applied arts and crafts courses are regulated by the council.
Speaking to The Hindu, S. Vidyashankar, Vice Chancellor of VTU said, “We are aware of the AICTE and UGC circulars in this regard, and if the State government has decided in this regard, our university will henceforth regulate technical institution that offer BBA, BMS and BCA.”
Principal’s association opposes
However, Bengaluru City University Principal’s Association has opposed the AICTE decision in this regard and has urged for withdrawal of the notification. It has also submitted a proposal to the Vice Chairman of Karnataka Higher Education Council for State government’s intervention.
“BBA and BCA are general courses accessible to many students as it is cost-effective when compared with AICTE-affiliated colleges,” the association said, demanding that they be retained under the ambit of general UG colleges. Many Arts and Science colleges are offering these courses for nominal fees and are surviving due to higher enrolment for courses like BBA, BCA, and Commerce courses. Removing them will also harm the multi and interdisciplinary approach as mentioned in the National Education Policy and also result in a significant fall in admission to the Arts, Science and Management colleges, it argued.
