AICTE Announces 2 Supernumerary Seats In Each Technical Institute For Talented Students

New Delhi: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on Friday, May 6 announced that all affiliated institutions will offer 2 supernumerary seats to the talented students. The seats will be offered to the students with exceptional talent. "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," AICTE release mentioned. The noble initiative was taken in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) to foster and nurture the creativity, dynamism and innovation in Indian Education System. The students will be identified based on specific criteria mentioned in the policy document available on AICTE website. "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," the release mentioned. The candidates will be required to submit a statement of purpose and three letters of recommendations on a proper letterhead. "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," AICTE release read. Prof Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE said, “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 emphasises on skilling, honing, and encouraging creativity." (Source: NDTV)