AICTE Slashes 15,981 Engineering Seats in Tamil Nadu
- Considering the poor intake of various technical institutes across Tamil Nadu, AICTE has slashed a total of 15,981 engineering seats.
- Instead of engineering, seats in pharmacy and management courses have been increased this year.
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided to slash 15,981 seats in 139 engineering colleges across the state. On the other hand, the council has also approved the closure of 12 engineering colleges, which used to offer close to 3,252 seats.
Compared to the previous year, more technical institutes opted for closure this year. Similarly, six MCA and three MBA colleges have also decided to wind up their academic operations this year for which AICTE has given an approval. Apart from these, AICTE has placed nine engineering colleges across the state under ‘No Admission’ category.
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AICTE has permitted only two new institutes to enroll students this year. These two colleges together offer 258 seats in various courses in engineering. Close to 42 existing institutes applied for an increase in intake and the council has given an approval for the same. Now, these 42 colleges will together offer 4,145 seats.
Four new MCA colleges and three new MBA colleges also received an approval to start their academic activities from the academic session 2018-19.
As per the official information of AICTE, 87 engineering colleges across the state have not applied for the approval.
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In all, instead of engineering, seats in pharmacy and management courses have been increased this year. There is no increase in intake for the diploma in pharmacy course.
The demand for engineering courses has been declining year by year. Students are becoming reluctant to take up engineering courses due to minimal placement opportunities. Instead, more students prefer science courses at UG level.