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All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) is looking forward to reduce the intake of engineering students about 30 percent from next session onwards.
“In last one year alone, at least 27,000 seats in engineering colleges were reduced and in the coming year, it will be reduced by 30,000 to 40,000 seats. We are looking at final admission rate stabilizing at 70 percent of the total intake capacity, as against 40 to 50 percent prevailing at present,” said Dr Anil Saharsrabudhe Chairman of AICTE to media.
“National regulator has adopted restrictive approach so far as opening of new institutions is concerned because quality of education is a concern. Since last year, National Board of Accreditation (NBA) has put in place stringent assessment without which expansion will not be allowed. Since vacancy is huge, a number of colleges are shutting down programmes. Though only about three engineering colleges shut shop last year, overall reduction of seats was 27,000,” he added further.
Form 1.85 lakh undergraduate engineering seats in 2000, the number now stands at 16.73 lakh. The growth of diploma/polytechnic seats too has been as sharp - from 2.1 lakh to 12.64 lakh during the period.
Reduced intake will also help colleges manage their teacher-student ratio. Instead of a sanctioned ratio of 1:15, colleges can look at their average intake and decide on the faculty position.
While a major problem these engineering colleges are facing is due to not available of quality faculty for engineering colleges as there are not enough M Tech and PhD holders for teaching staff.
The biggest problem of the sector is surplus infrastructure. Out of 1.5 lakh seats in technical institutions, just 88,000 have been filled.
