AICTE to grant graded autonomy to standalone PGDM institutions

Standalone institutions, basically identified as PGDM institutions, are not affiliated with any state-run universities but provide various open and distance learning and Post Graduate (PG) diploma and certificate courses. In addition, Stand‐alone institutions were not empowered to provide degrees and therefore run diploma level programmes.

Accordingly, the AICTE will categorise standalone institutions with category-I, Category-II and Category III, based on various parameters.

AICTE, in its latest guidelines, said, the standalone institutions falling in the top two categories will get liberty in decision making regarding the introduction of new courses, intake capacity, grants and others.

However, AICTE will periodically review the functioning of standalone institutions which have been granted autonomy at least once in five years, the guideline said.

The category one institutions will include those who have been running three or more courses with a minimum 75 per cent score from the National Board of Accreditation.

These institutions will be exempted from annual monitoring of their learning resource centres by the AICTE, unless when there was substantive evidence of their not meeting basic minimum criteria or of irregularities or malpractices.

Likewise, the institutions that come under the category I can take its own decision to recruit teachers and admit students independently.

They can also open research parks, incubation centres, institute society linkage centres, in self-financing mode, either on its own or in partnership with private partners.

Similarly, the category two colleges include institutions running three or more courses with NBA accredited with a 67.5% or more score. These institutions do not have the liberty to run more than the total number of NBA-accredited courses they were already offering.

The rest of the standalone institutions that fail to meet the prerequisites for categories one and two will automatically stay in category three.