JAIPUR: Management colleges in the state are facing severe student crunch. Thirty-four private management colleges, affiliated to Rajasthan Technical University (RTU), have shut shop in this academic year and the remaining others struggle to survive due to poor student response.

This year, only 90 colleges participated in the counselling sessions for admission, against 134 colleges last year. Only 1,050 students appeared for counselling for 7,500 seats. According to university officials, over 50 colleges did not get even a single student for counselling. "This is crisis period for management education in state. These institutes will have to re-plan their strategy by focussing on faculty and infrastructure," R P Yadav , vice-chancellor, RTU, said. Last year, 6,000 seats remained vacant.

In 2012, 19 private colleges have closed down. Most of the colleges fail to provide the right environment necessary for their growth. Adding to the woes of the students are poor placements, under-qualified faculty and delayed sessions.

From 2007 till 2010, management colleges in the state saw a growth of 30 %.

Experts feel the sudden spurt in the number of colleges was not in keeping with the number of students. "Most of them have failed miserably to provide quality education. We were shocked to know that some of them were running their MBA classes in garages," an education department official complained.

