New Delhi, Oct 18 : The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has now officially permitted working professionals to pursue diploma, B.Tech or BE degrees from institutes affiliated by it, thus enabling them to upgrade professionally. It has approved 10,800 seats for pursuing diploma courses while for degree courses, as many as 9,180 seats have been sanctioned for working professionals across the country. The regulator of technical education said that in order to streamline the admission process and on the directions of the Supreme Court, the AICTE has come up with proper guidelines for the institutes and decided to extend the last date for admission till October 30. The AICTE constituted a committee of experts for the assessment and final selection of institutes, who are keen to offer courses for working professionals for the academic year 2023-24 only in the approved disciplines having NBA accreditation. Based on the assessment, a total of 137 AICTE-approved institutes from across the country including aspirational districts, North East states, Hilly areas and J&K have been selected to offer 306 courses in the B.E/B.Tech programme, an official said. In total, 9,180 seats are available for diploma holder working professionals who can now pursue the degree, he added. The official further said that as many as 174 institutes from across the country have been selected to run 360 diploma courses for ITI working professionals. A total of 10,800 seats are offered for ITI working professionals to pursue for diploma courses. The AICTE said that institutes can offer only AICTE-approved courses or disciplines. The official noted that maximum three courses can be offered by an institute and only four institute per district are allowed to offer courses. Intake of maximum 30 students is allowed per course. The professionals working in recognised industries or organisations with minimum one-year work experience will be eligible for the courses. It is mandatory for an applicant to submit an NOC (no objection certificate) from their employer to pursue a degree or diploma, the official added. The technical education regulator has instructed all state governments to ensure that all institutes complete the admission process for regular students and working professionals before October 30. /IANS