AICTE committee says vacant seats remain high and colleges continue to seek nod to shut
Over the past six years, 557 engineering colleges have closed down across the country. Representation pic
While engineering is a much sought-after course, no new engineering college is likely to come up till 2024. An All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) expert committee has made the recommendation to the body in view of the huge vacancy in engineering colleges across the country, which has led to closure of many such institutes.
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As per the data available with the AICTE, in the academic year 2021-22, a total of 63 engineering colleges applied for permission to shut. The number stood at 26 the year before, whereas the three years prior to that saw more than 50 colleges applying to close down each. In the past six years, 557 engineering colleges have closed down across the country. This includes 129 colleges from Maharashtra.
However, recent data shared by the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell of Maharashtra showed that the number of students applying for engineering admissions has increased this year. “The issue of vacancies is very big in engineering colleges, especially in those which are not popular. Lakhs of seats remain vacant in these colleges. Considering this gap between the number of seats and students applying for it, we are considering not permitting any new engineering college till 2024,” said one AICTE official.
The AICTE had already taken the decision to not permit any new engineering college till 2022. According to the AICTE, the decision has already shown effect as the percentage of seats going vacant in engineering colleges has come down to 45 per cent from 50 per cent in the 2020-2021 academic year.
Talking about the continuous trend in engineering education, the principal of a well-known engineering college, requesting anonymity, said, “Reduction in eligibility criterion and entrance test process has to be followed for engineering admissions. Generally, if a candidate does not get a seat in a good college, they either attempt again the next year or move on to another course in science faculty such as BSc, IT, Computer Science among others which are not only of lesser duration compared to engineering, but also have good job prospects.”
45%
Seats vacant in engineering colleges across country in 2020-2021
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