Government’s NOC directive on degree courses in areas like technical studies, law or BEd

The higher education department has directed state-aided universities to desist from issuing No-Objection Certificates (NOC) to institutes applying for clearance to offer degree courses in areas like technical studies, law or BEd without seeking recognition from apex regulatory bodies, like the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

The department issued an advisory on Thursday.

A notice signed by a deputy secretary of the department said: “The department has been made aware that certain institutions which are not authorized to run degree courses including but not restricted to Technical/Law/BEd Degree(s) are approaching universities including Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) for obtaining NOC from such universities for conducting these degree programmes.”

An official of the department said these institutions are not authorised to offer such programmes because they are not recognised by apex regulatory bodies like the AICTE, NCTE and the Bar Council of India.

If such institutions are granted NOCs by the universities without any checks, it will lead to a crisis endangering the future of students enrolling for such programmes, the official said.

“Once the apex regulatory bodies come to know of such unrecognised entities offering programmes, they will straightaway send a notice about de-recognising the programmes. This will jeopardise the future of the enrolled students. We have sounded the alert so such a situation does not arise,” said the official.

The department’s notice said: “Now, therefore, all the state-aided universities, including MAKAUT, are hereby directed that they should desist from providing NOC to any institution without obtaining prior approval/clearance from the Department of Higher Education and only after following the statutory requirements.”