In Defence of IBS-Gurgaon, AICTE Fiasco

Background- The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) — the body that regulates technical
education in India — has decided to approach state governments and ask them to
close unapproved institutions, including several premier B-schools and technical training institutes, operating in their regions. http://www.ibsrocks.com/forum/ibs-g-on-aicte-s-hit-list-t480.html

This article brings to fore the great Indian MBA Dilema once again (notably just at the time students start filling Mba forms.

The Issue - Institutes like ISB,Gr8 Lakes, ICFAI. IIPM , CHRIST , not having AICTE approval to run their MBA courses. AICTE thus is unhappy that they are not getting the due ego boost and respect, so they go ahead to ask state governments to close down such institutes.

Now thats something really uncalled for. Id once again like to clarify few things wrt this issue

1. AICTE approval is voluntary and not mandotory

2. Universities or deemed universities DO NOT require AICTE approval in the first place as they fall under UGC which offers DEGREES. AICTE is meant for approving DIPLOMA's equal to degrees. So while an IIM needs AICTE , a SYMBI or NMIMS or ICFAI for that matter DOES NOT SEEK AICTE approval , as they are under UGC

3. ISB or gr8 lakes offer 1 yr diploma courses , which AICTE cannot approve anyways , as they cover only 2 year course.So its actually doesnt make sense for AICTE to ask them to close down. Do they mean to say 1 year courses are not relevant? thats a separate issue and they better leave it on INDUSTRY forces to decide that !

4. AICTE has 800+ approved institutes under it , most of which are so poor in terms of infrastructure , faculty base or student quality , that AICTE would do much better regulating them rather than creating just baseless outrageous claims !

5. At end of the day MBA is about INDUSTRY....no piece of paper (wether AICTE or UGC for tht matter) can gurantee one a place in the industry. So if the industry accepts an ISB or an IBS as a top notch institute - the students shoudl really not be a worried lot

Hope this helps. Aspirants are advised not to press the panic button, dont loose focuss from preparations.... !