Now, working professionals can get BTech, BE degrees from AICTE-affiliated institutes

Technical schools in India can now offer Bachelor of Technology and Bachelor of Engineering programs to working professionals, according to officials.

New Delhi:

The decision has been taken for the continuing education of working professionals, and help students who cannot afford the fee for higher technical education but are looking for opportunities to earn a degree while working, the officials said (File photo for representation)

Technical schools affiliated to the All India Council for Technical Education can now offer Bachelor of Technology and Bachelor of Engineering programmes to working professionals, officials said. The regulator has invited applications from these institutes to run start the courses from this academic session.

The decision has been taken for the continuing education of working professionals, and help students who cannot afford the fee for higher technical education but are looking for opportunities to earn a degree while working, the officials said.

A maximum of three programmes will be approved by AICTE per institute with an approved intake of 30 seats each, AICTE member secretary Rajive Kumar said. “A batch of minimum 10 working professionals will be required to run the course in an academic year,” he said. “The core disciplines with specialization in upcoming technologies will be given preference.”

These will not be part- time courses but will be offered in the regular mode, Kumar said. “They will be designed as per the convenience of students and institutions, with flexible timings and modes. This is a continuous education programme for in-service persons for their professional upgradation. We are aiming to start at least one to four institutions in each district,” he added.

The technical schools will be allowed to decide their mode of conducting classes online or offline, schedules and timetables, Kumar said.

Only working professionals in recognised industries or organizations will be eligible to take admission in these programmes. “The applicants will also have to submit an undertaking from their employer with the institutions,” Kumar said.

A need-based analysis has to be done before taking any decision of starting these programmes, said JP Saini, vice-chancellor of Netaji Subhas University of Technology. “Overall, it is a good initiative and we will put it before our statutory bodies. We will take a decision regarding this in the next academic session because the admission process for this year is almost over for both NSUT and DTU,” said Saini, who has additional charge of Delhi Technical University (DTU).