AICTE announces Supernumerary Seats for Talented Students in Tech Institutions

Two Supernumerary Seats will be added per Institute for Gifted & Talented Students

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has announced that all affiliated institutions will be offering two supernumerary seats to “gifted and talented” students. These seats will be offered to students with exceptional talent as per AICTE guidelines and scheme norms.

As per the AICTE, the objective behind the inception of two supernumerary seats is to empower gifted and talented students and enhance the innate potentials to the fullest of such students who have scored less or didn’t appear for the entrance test.

For the first time in country, AICTE has defined norms to identify such students. “This noble initiative is in accordance with the spirit of National Education Policy (NEP) to foster and nurture the creativity, dynamism and innovation in Indian Education System,” reads AICTE release.

The excessive weightage to grades and marks limits the creativity and innate talents among the students as they have to chase the marks through rote learning to secure admission in prestigious universities and institutions under societal and family pressure.

The idea is to provide a stimulating learning environment to a high potential learner for overall well-being and holistic development.

Such high potential students will be identified based on a set of specific criteria mentioned in the policy document available on AICTE website. Only Indian citizens are eligible for admission on supernumerary seats.

AICTE will announce the list of institutions eligible for admitting students under this scheme based on pre-determined criteria and the ability of institutions to nurture gifted students eg: NIRF/ARIIA Ranking, NBA accreditation, past performance of the institution, intake capacity, etc.

International/ National prize winners to get opportunity

The criteria for selection includes that students could have either won International/ National level prizes, published original research paper, winner of hackathons, receiving funding from government agencies for pursuing innovative projects, receiving funding from highly reputed global companies/MNCs/NGOs for pursuing innovative projects, holding patent, having a registered start-up (as per DPIIT norms) incubated at the leading incubators, developed an innovative project/ product recognized and reported by prestigious national or vernacular media, owner of Apps on Google/Apple/Windows stores or has launched or is in process of launching a technology-based innovative product in the market etc.

Candidates are required to submit a statement of purpose and 3 letters of recommendations on a proper letterhead from the appropriate authority clearly stating that he/she is a gifted child and is eligible for the supernumerary seat in AICTE affiliated colleges in accordance with the scheme guidelines of AICTE.

All the applications will undergo primary screening at the institute level to verify the document. Post document scrutiny, the candidate may need to appear for the interview in front of a panel of experts appointed by the institutions to ascertain their truly gifted nature and eligibility for admission.

Institutions admitting students under this scheme are committed to give complete tuition waiver. However, institutions may levy students’ fees for examination, hostel, library, transportation, laboratory, and other activity as per the prevailing norms.

Speaking about this unique scheme, Prof Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) said that, “The need to identify the creative and highly talented students to promote innovation was felt for a long time in drawing room discussions but no action was taken so far in this direction. In the absence of needful ecosystem, the valuable potential of the gifted students remained unnoticed, and hence appropriate nurturance of their talent has not happened. The NEP 2020 also emphasizes on skilling, honing, and encouraging creativity. Hence, it is imperative to set the criteria and system which would help in identifying the gifted students early and support them. Such students should not be insisted upon for grade XII or entrance criteria. In my vision, high-ability learners should be identified as early as possible and they should be provided with opportunities at our higher educational institutions, and some of these students shall make the country proud”.

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