Thiruvananthapuram: Armed with the Supreme Court order that upheld the universities’ right to insist additional academic standards in affiliated colleges, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University has decided to insist accreditation by National Board of Accreditation (NBA) a prerequisite for sanctioning new courses.
Henceforth, colleges with at least one existing NBA accredited course only will be given the no-objection certificate to apply for new courses.
The recommendations submitted by the affiliation standing committee in this regard were approved by the syndicate meeting on Tuesday.
Colleges with no NBA accreditation courses must meet three criteria prescribed by the university in addition to the conditions laid down by the AICTE.
At least 50% pass in the final year examination of the previous year, admission in at least half of the seats, and an excellent ranking in academic auditing are the additional criteria propounded by the University.
Though the university had insisted NBA accreditation and a set of quality criteria for sanctioning new courses in the past, several college managements had secured favourable orders to unsettle the varsity move.
However, KTU challenged the HC division bench order in the Supreme Court and got the apex court’s permission to introduce quality criteria, over and above the ones prescribed by AICTE.
The syndicate also resolved to direct the academic council to formulate a plan for all engineering colleges under the university to obtain NBA accreditation within five years.
The syndicate has also decided to revise the affiliation fee from 2020-21.
Colleges will be given six months more to pay the affiliation fee arrears and a complete waiver of penalty.
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