In the wake of an alarming situation, engineering colleges have approached the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to reduce intake by almost 1.3 lakh B.Tech and M.Tech seats from the new academic year, starting July.

The situation of Engineering Colleges in India has become grim in recent times. For some years, these technical institutes in the country have failed to fill their once coveted seats. In the wake of such an alarming situation, engineering colleges have approached the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to reduce intake by almost 1.3 lakh B.Tech and M.Tech seats from the new academic year, starting July. As per AICTE’s provisional data, 83 engineering institutes having 24,000 seats have applied for closure. Worsening the scenario are another 494 colleges have sought permission to discontinue some undergraduate and postgraduate engineering programmes. This would reduce the national intake by another 42,000 seats. 639 institutes have requested AICTE to reduce their intake by 62,000 seats collectively.

As per The Indian Express, the AICTE hasn’t taken a final decision yet on the issue but is likely to accept all requests for winding up of colleges. In 2017, the AICTE had decided to facilitate closure of technical colleges even if applicants are not able to procure No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the state governments. The AICTE is also expected to approve about 80 percent of requests for partial or complete closure of selected engineering programmes, the final figures of which will be available in the first week of May. AICTE is also expected to impose a penalty on colleges with poor admissions over the last five years.

According to reports, technical courses, including engineering, where admission has consistently been less than 30 percent in the last five years will have their seats reduced by half from the new academic year. Programmes with zero admissions this period will be closed immediately.

In December 2017, a report stated that 51% of the over 15 lakh seats in over 3,900 engineering colleges in India had not been filled last year. There are many factors to blame, from an explosion of career choices, professional courses and relevant employment opportunities to the general decline in demand for engineers, mainly in the IT sector. According to sources, the final figures for the reduction in engineering seats (M.Tech and B.Tech) will be offset by applications for setting up of new colleges and capacity expansion of existing institutes.