Main (Administrative) Building, IIT Roorkee from the first Five Year Plan onwards India's emphasis was to develop a pool of scientifically inclined manpower. India's National Policy on Education (NPE) provisioned for an apex body for regulation and development of higher technical education, which came into being as the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in 1987 through an act of the Indian parliament.
At the level of the centre the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Information Technology are deemed of national importance.
The Indian Institutes of Management are also among the nation's premier education facilities. Several Regional Engineering Colleges (REC) have been converted into National Institutes of Technology. The UGC has inter-university centers at a number of locations throughout India to promote common research, e.g. the Nuclear Science Centre at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
In addition to above institutes, efforts towards the enhancement of technical education are supplemented by a number of recognized Professional Engineering Societies like:
(I) the Institution of Engineers
(ii) The Institution of Chemical Engineering
(iii) The Institution of Electronics and Tele-Communication Engineers
(iv) The Indian Institute of Metals
(v) The Institution of Industrial Engineers
(vi) The Institute of Town Planners
(vii) The Indian Institute of Architects, etc., who conduct Engineering/Technical Examinations at different levels(Degree and diploma) for working professionals desirous of improving their technical qualifications.
