Calcutta University has introduced two-year MTech programmes from the 2024-25 academic session replacing the three-year evening part-time MTech courses in four disciplines, which were no longer recognised by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The university, until last year, ran the three-year evening MTech programme for working professionals in four disciplines — electrical engineering, instrumentation engineering, computer engineering and application and VLSI design.
CU runs two-year MTech programmes in 12 other disciplines.
The secretary of the engineering and science faculty said they have replaced the three-year programmes with the two-year ones for working professionals following the AICTE’s directive.
The faculty in its last meeting held in late May approved the changes.
The programmes will continue to be run in the evening slot so working professionals to enrol. Regular students can also enrol.
An AICTE notice, issued on December 28, said: “As per the Hon’ble Supreme Court judgement, NO institution/ University can run technical course (s) including MBA/management courses (leading to Post Graduate degree) without taking approval from AICTE.”
A notice signed by the secretary of faculty said: “Applications are invited for admission to the 2 Yr. (4 Semesters) M.Tech. Courses Section-B for working professionals.”
The two-year programmes where the working professionals can enrol are electrical engineering, instrumentation engineering, computer engineering and application and VLSI design.
All these will continue to be self-financed programmes as earlier, secretary Amit Roy said.
“We have dropped the part-time tag. The duration has been reduced to two years following the AICTE’s directive,” Roy told Metro.
Jadavpur University last week introduced a two-year MBA programme from the 2024-25 academic session replacing the three-year evening MBA course because it was no longer recognised by the AICTE.
A CU official said if they did not discontinue the three-year programmes that were started in the 90s, the university would face trouble.
“The AICTE could showcause the university for defying the apex regulatory authority. There is an effort within the university to comply with what the AICTE says. Which is why the university recently converted all BTech seats into four-year BTech programmes because the AICTE no longer recognises three-year BTech programmes,” the official said.
A notice issued by the university said performance in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is not required for working professionals to pursue MTech.
