Moratorium on new engineering, tech colleges to be lifted from 2023: AICTE

The moratorium on opening of new engineering and technical colleges will be lifted from the 2023-24 academic session, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) announced on Thursday.

The technical education regulator had imposed a two-year ban from the academic year 2020-21 on opening of new engineering institutes due to a declining number of admissions in the course.

"Moratorium for establishing new institution in engineering and technology has been lifted from AY (academic year) 2023-24. However, for establishing a new institution in engineering and technology, preference shall be given to the applicant offering courses in multi-disciplinary area in-line with NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 in STEM," the AICTE said in its new approval guidelines.

While launching the Approval Process Handbook for 2023-24, the AICTE said existing institutions willing to take AICTE approval for their technical programme will also have to obtain approval for all technical programmes ..