Most colleges affiliated to JNTU-H fail to update websites

Hyderabad: The online affiliation process initiated by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and soon to be followed by the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad seem to have come as a boon to several colleges to flout norms.

According to the JNTU-H sources, 50 per cent out of about 198 colleges who have gone through the online recognition process of the apex technical, management and pharmacy regulator has been failing to update their websites as per the norms.

Speaking to The Hans India, the website of every college recognised by the AICTE has to disclose the courses, number of seats sanctioned, fee structure, detailed profiles of every faculty member working in the institution and service rules. That apart, the AICTE guidelines mandate the colleges to place details related to the facilities available, including the lab infrastructure, workshops, hostels, library, training and placement cell activities, collaborations with other higher educational institutions and accreditation details.

Besides, the mandatory discloser of recognition received by the AICTE, affiliated university, details of the grievance redressal cell and discrimination based on caste, and the like. However, the JNTU-H official sources said that the website links provided by several colleges, even after they have passed through the recognition process of the AICTE were found not working.

"This amounts to the violation of the guidelines and repeated notices issued by the AICTE and the JNTU-H to the colleges. Yet, the colleges seem not bothered about regular updating the details." Adding, a senior official from the JNTU-H Academic and Audit Cell said, whenever communication is sent the colleges only update one or two-components of their websites. The main objective of the mandatory discloser of details of each college is to give all necessary information to the students and parents to make an informed decision to take admission to a particular college. However, this has been proving tough for both the AICTE and JNTU-H to ensure colleges comply with the norms. This time the JNTU-H is also going for an online affiliation process without conducting the physical inspections due to the prevailing COVID norms.

Giving the colleges ample space to further flout norms and not to comply with the mandatory discloser norms mandated to them, he sources said. When asked the way out available for the students and parents, the official said that they can lodge complaints and grievances, even on service deficiencies of the colleges directly to the AICTE as well as the university for taking further action against the erring colleges.