Diploma courses at degree colleges

Chandigarh, January 8

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has allowed the existing degree colleges in the country to start diploma courses.

Besides, infrastructure norms for the colleges have also been relaxed. The guidelines form part of the handbook for approval process announced for 10,945 technical institutions and deemed universities for the session 2019-20.

Norms like lesser covered area would help technical institutions for utilising the existing infrastructure for additional educational purposes, said Dr Anshu Kataria, president, Punjab Unaided Colleges Association (PUCA).

As per the norms, the area requirement of language laboratory for engineering and technology has now been reduced to 66 sq m from 132 sq m. Besides, there has been relaxation in the number of rooms/labs in engineering and pharmacy institutions. The faculty ratio has been changed for architecture from 1:10 to 1:8 in PG courses. — TNS