This comes after in March, AICTE lifted moratorium on opening of new engineering and technical colleges from the 2023-24 academic session. Earlier, the technical education regulator had imposed a two-year ban from the academic year 2020-21 on opening of new engineering institutes after seeing 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 multidisciplinary area in-line with NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 in STEM,” the AICTE had said in its March release.

Apart from the 89 engineering colleges, the report also added that AICTE in a first has also given approval for 80 additional institutions to begin offering undergraduate courses in Very large-scale integration (VLSI) semiconductors. The courses would focus on three main areas design, logistics and advanced communication technology.

Earlier on 18 February this year, AICTE had launched curriculum for two new programs designed for design and manufacturing in semiconductors, which would provide variety of employment roles and salary incentives for students, Ashwini Vaishnaw had said.

AICTE had launched the curriculum designed for B. Tech Electronics VLSI Design & Technology and Diploma in integrated circuit manufacturing. 

VLSI sector is a high-paying industry and immune to automation and it will create an environment for semiconductor ecosystem for setting and scaling up.

Updated: 21 Jul 2023, 01:11 PM IST