Chapter introduction Preamble

Statutory Bodies

Boards and Committees of the AICTE, the Executive Committee, ten All India Boards of Studies, eight Regional Committees are all of statutory nature.

The Council is a 51-member body and has a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman and a Member Secretary with tenure appointments. The Council includes amongst others, representatives of various Departments of the Government of India, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Govt. of States and Union Territories, representatives from the Statutory Boards and Committees of the Council, Professional Bodies and organisations in the fields of concerned areas of technical education and research and also organizations in the field of industry and commerce, etc. The AICTE Act empowers the Council to take all such steps as it may think fit for ensuring coordinated and integrated development of technical education. The powers and functions assigned to the Council are given in Appendix 1.2. The Council performs its functions in consultation with State Governments, Universities, State Boards of Technical Education, Professional Bodies and experts etc.

The Executive Committee is a 21-member body constituted by the Council and discharges such functions as may be assigned to it by the Council. The Executive Committee is chaired by the Chairman of the Council and includes Vice-Chairman of the Council; Secretary to the Government of India; two Chairmen of the Regional Committees of the Council; three Chairmen of the All India Boards of Studies of the Council; one member of the Council representing the Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India; four members of the Council representing States/UTs; four members with expertise and distinction in areas relevant to technical education; Chairman of the University Grants Commission; Director of the Institute of Applied Manpower Research; and Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The Member-Secretary of AICTE is also the Member-Secretary of the Executive Committee.

The All India Boards of Studies advise the Executive Committee on academic matters falling in their areas of concern including norms & standards, model curricula, model facilities and structure of courses etc. The areas of concern, constitution, functions and powers of the Boards of Studies are such as may be provided by the Council through appropriate Regulations. Initially, the AICTE Act provided for the establishment of five Boards of Studies. Later, four more Boards of Studies were added by the Council and subsequently one more Board has been added. Boards of Studies have 10-15 members each and are headed by subject experts of eminence. The Council is assisted by eight statutory Regional Committees covering different geographical regions. These Committees advise and assist the Council in all aspects of planning, promoting and regulating technical education within their respective regions. Each Regional Committee has 15-20 members, headed by an engineer/technologist of eminence.

The Council has set up a National Board of Accreditation under Clause 10(u) of the AICTE Act to periodically conduct evaluation of technical institutions or programmes on the basis of guidelines and norms and standards specified by it for quality assessment.