Nearly 200 'Substandard' Engineering Colleges to Shut Down, Seats Will Drop by 80,000 This Year: AICTE
The colleges which have applied for closure are those with enrollment below 20 per cent, said AICTE chairperson Anil Sahasrabudhe.
New Delhi, April 8: The All India Council for Technical Education claims nearly 200 'substandard' engineering colleges will shut down, bringing the total number of seats down by 80,000 this year.
The colleges which have applied for closure are those with enrollment below 20 per cent, said AICTE chairperson Anil Sahasrabudhe. "This shows that these colleges were not even preferred by the aspirants," the official added.
Although the institutes are set to be winded up, students enrolled under the current batches would not be affected, Sahasrabuddhe clarified. "They will continue to function till the incumbent batches graduate," he said.
The AICTE chief claims the closure of substandard colleges has been compensated as premiere institutes, including the IITs and NITs have increased their intake capacities.
According to the data released by the AICTE, there are 3,415 engineering colleges registered with it as of 2016-17. The combined intake capacity of these institutes is 3.1 lakh approximately. The education body claims that students themselves are opting away from traditional courses as the number of enrollments has dropped by 75,000 annually.
The number of enrollments could further shrink in the next couple of years as the AICTE has asked colleges to get accreditation from the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) for the various courses offered. The move may compel colleges to end up some of its vocational courses which may lack a dedicated staff.
At present, only 15 percent of the courses offered by engineering colleges are accredited by the NBA. The move to get NBA accreditation mandatory by 2022 is aimed at improving the quality of education imparted.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 08, 2018 10:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).