Students of the Sardar Vallabhai Patel International School of Textiles & Management (SVPISTM) in Coimbatore resorted to an indefinite strike from Monday over the non-recognition of courses by the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which is the statutory body that accredits post-graduate and graduate programmes.

This is the second time that the students have taken up an agitation over the issue following the earlier strike in December. Nearly 200 students are enrolled in the institute's three Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) programmes and an MBA programme offered in association with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). The institute has been established by the Ministry of Textiles of the Union Government.

A student representative speaking to Business Line at the SVPISTM premises on Avinashi Road in Peelamedu, today said they joined the courses run by the institute believing them to be credible as they were promoted by the Ministry of Textiles. Even the name board of the institute claimed that the courses were approved by the AICTE. But, while some courses had not been given approvals, the approvals of others had lapsed or had not been renewed. This had put the future of the students at risk.

In their strike notice the students pointed out that AICTE approval for PGDM in the textile and apparel courses had not been renewed for the current academic year. In respect of the PGDM (retail) course, while the AICTE had not approved it, an advertisement released by the institute claimed that the course had been approved by the AICTE.

The notice also alleged that the MBA-IGNOU (textile management) students of the 2011-13 batch had not been issued hall tickets till date and were being made to write their exams without hall tickets. Students of the MBA (textile management) 2012-14 batch had also not received their enrolment numbers and were unable to write their exams because of the non-issue of hall tickets.

They said the institute claimed that all PGDM courses of SVPISTM 'are equivalent to an MBA'. But these PGDM courses had not been approved by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU). AICTE is responsible for the development of management and technical education in the country.

They alleged that the Director of the school had shown a letter on Monday purported to be from the AICTE, granting approval for the 2011-12 PGDM batch. But the students said the approval should be for the entire duration of the course and “not just one year’’.

According to the institution Web site, the fee for the two-year PGDM course is Rs 40,000 per semester, and Rs 55,000 per semester for the MBA (two-year) programme.

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