New Delhi: The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has lifted the ban on new engineering colleges and courses across the country.

The AICTE effected the ban from the academic year 2020-21 following numerous vacant seats in the colleges. However, the apex body relaxed the same as reflected in the ‘Approval handbook’ for 2023-24.

The handbook makes it clear that more focus should be given to new fields, including Artificial Intelligence. It also gave a nod to increase the seats in engineering and management courses from 300 to 360. The maximum intake for Computer Application programmes was increased from 180 to 300. Permission was also granted for integrating various P G Diploma and MBA courses.

The application for new colleges and courses can be submitted from March 23 till April 6.

However, the handbook for the new academic year released by AICTE Chairman T G Seetharam makes it clear that there should not be any change in the teacher-student ratio.

A new clause has been introduced which states that the institutions applying for new courses should have at least three basic engineering courses. Earlier, the nod was given by considering non-engineering courses too. Also, the clause stipulating that new courses should be allotted only if the total enrollment in the previous year is more than 50 percent has been removed.

The AICTE has also allowed relaxations on the criteria for running courses in tie-up with foreign varsities.