Going home: Asked to vacate their hostels, Sathyabama's engineering students head home

KATTANKULATHUR, KANCHIPURAM DISTRICT NEAR CHENNAI
February 27

It was nearing midnight on February 27th, but no engineering student in the hostels of SRM Institute of Science & Technology at Kattankulathur was asleep. It is not unusual for students at engineering colleges to burn the midnight oil. But today, it wasn't the approaching exams that played on their minds. Rather, the students were rattled by a bigger question-one concerning their very future. On February 16, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the regulatory body for technical education across the country, issued a notice stating that "all institutions" offering technical education should obtain AICTE approval before March 7. That meant deemed universities, which have always regarded the University Grants Commission (UGC) and not AICTE as their master, would need to get such an approval or lose the right to offer and award degrees for technical courses.

Earlier in the day, worried students had tried to find out from the institute's management whether their courses were certified, but no clear answers were forthcoming. So at midnight, when the "minders" hired by the management to keep protests under check were away, the technical students decided to give vent to their frustrations. It started off as a regular protest-a lot of shouting and banner-raising-but soon descended into stone-throwing. Windows were smashed and some computers and equipment damaged. But before the students could inflict too much damage, the police arrived and lathi-charged them. According to the institute, 22 students were arrested, but G. Selva, President of Students Federation of India (SFI) in Tamil Nadu, says the number was only eight. "The parents of those students were not informed immediately by the institute, and they spent two days in jail. It was SFI that got them out on bail," says Selva.

Seeking answers: Empty corridors and shattered window panes at Sathyabama in the wake of student protests

SRM wasn't the only institute at the receiving end of student ire. The first protests occurred at the Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation in Salem, followed by SRM and then another famous institution in Chennai, Sathyabama Deemed University, promoted by Jeppiaar, a former legislator in the mgr government. At Sathyabama, the protests took place on March 1, when the students failed to get a convincing reply from the management and started pelting stones at the institute's building. In fact, on March 3, soon after the violent protests at Sathyabama, Robin Vaas, 20, a third-year student of electrical and electronics engineering, hanged himself at a relative's house. The reason behind the suicide was not immediately clear. In contrast, the other affected institutes in and outside of Tamil Nadu have largely been peaceful.

Profiting From Loopholes

What's the row about? Under the existing regulations, a university can only be set up by a central or state act. But a decade after India's independence, the government had found out a way to speed up the spread of institutes of higher education. In 1956, UGC passed an act allowing deemed universities to come up. Deemed universities aren't actually universities (in that they are not set up by a central or state act), but affiliated to one, but independent for all practical purposes. They can set up their own courses, and administer them with almost no interference. There had always been fight between AICTE and the deemed universities over the former's right to certify their technical courses. But the Supreme Court sort of tipped the balance in favour of the deemed universities, when it ruled in 2001 (in a fight between Bharatidasan University and AICTE, although the former was a proper university and not a deemed one) that they were exempt from AICTE regulations. With the result, while just 29 deemed universities came up between 1956 and 1990, in the 10 years to 2000, 26 of them were notified as deemed universities. Between 2001 and 2005, 36 such universities came into being.

Uncertain future: Engineering classes at the troubled colleges are expected to resume later this month

Because the UGC Act allows the deemed universities complete autonomy, some of them have turned themselves into a money-making racket. In states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Hyderabad, most of these technical colleges have a "management quota" that allows them to admit students for a large capitation fee (it can range between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 8 lakh). Given that some of these colleges admit as many as 5,000 engineering students a year, there's Rs 200 crore to be made in capitation fee alone. No wonder, there's been a rush to get the deemed university status. In the process, the quality of technical education at most of these institutions has suffered-a primary reason behind the AICTE crackdown.

With the AICTE saying that all institutions would need their certification or lose the right to offer degrees in technical courses, the choice for the deemed universities is to either fall in line or give a BSc degree instead of, say, a be or BTech degree. Of course, in the job market, a BSc degree is far less valuable than a be degree. Says a former Vice Chancellor of Anna University: "MNCs hiring engineers from here ask for the AICTE approval, since they cannot be monitoring the quality of hundreds of colleges.'' Confirms R. Chandrasekaran, Managing Director, Cognizant Technology Solutions: "Cognizant has historically recruited graduate engineers only from premier technical universities and engineering colleges. We have never, and shall not in future, recruit from engineering colleges that are not bona fide, and do not issue legitimate degree certificates approved by the AICTE."

Paying the price: Computers and windows bore the brunt of students' ire at the SRM Institute

Getting Them To Submit

For the hundreds of technical students in India's deemed universities that is the big worry. When BT went to press, the chancellors of SRM, Sathyabama and Vellore Institute of Technology had said that they would abide by UGC rules and even allow AICTE inspection if the Madras High Court so ordered. On March 15, at a Madras High Court hearing, the central government informed the court that AICTE was empowered to lay down norms for technical institutes, including those of deemed universities, and that the AICTE had the right to inspect them. The counter petition filed by the deemed universities had argued that the AICTE could not take any arbitrary action, such as non-recognition of courses, and must refer all matters to the UGC.

As for the troubled deemed universities in Chennai, classes have commenced for the non-technical courses, but the engineering courses will restart on the 21st of this month. It's likely that the fight between the deemed universities and the AICTE will not end here but reach the Supreme Court. When it does, the apex court should simply put all technical courses under the purview of the AICTE. The country's students don't deserve to be short-changed.