Violence at S.R.M

Being an alumnus of S.R.M Engineering College, the news about the violence on campus left me a bit saddened. The violence seems to have started when the students staged a protest to know about the status of approval from the All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE). But this (link via Kaps) news items says that the college has lots its AICTE affiliation and the students would get B.Sc degrees instead of B.Tech degrees.

Is the AICTE approval something that is going on for all colleges now? So far, I've been hearing only good things about SRM since I graduated. I heard that they were expanding, had started new disciplines, etc. So this came as a surprise. Has the standard of the college fallen so much that the approval from AICTE was in doubt? Does the news about the change from B.Tech to B.Sc degree have any validity?

I have a lot of good memories from my 4 years at the college. The long morning and evening train rides, the shared lunches, the parottas at the neighboring eatery, the arattai sessions in the canteen... those were fun times. Even the grilling by the teachers, the last-minute cramming for the exams and the tension-filled wait for the results make for pleasant memories now. So its sad to hear that the college has been shut indefinitely. The students' futures are probably hanging in the air now. Hope this issue gets resolved speedily...