Engineering education reaching consolidation phase, only 57 apply for closure compared to 106 in 2017-18

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 15: The engineering education appears to be reaching the consolidation stage with the number of colleges getting closed witnessing a downward trend. As per a report presented in the Parliament, this year till date 57 colleges have applied for progressive closure, which was 106 last year and 163 in 2016-17.

In the past decade, there has been a lot of debate over the poor quality of engineering graduates due to mushrooming of engineering colleges all over the country. Earlier, this year a report stated that nearly 200 'substandard' engineering colleges have applied for closure leading to the reduction of as many 80,000 seats every year.

DR. Satya Pal Singh, MoS, Ministry of Human Resource Development while replying a question in the Rajya Sabha on the number of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) affiliated professional colleges closed down during the last three years, stated that total 326 colleges have applied for progressive closure.

In the year 2016-17, the total intake capacity at the undergraduate level (B.Tech and B.E.) was 15.71 lakh of which total enrolment was 7.87 lakh, which translates to 50.1 per cent. A year earlier, in 2015-16, intake capacity was 16.47 lakh of which enrolment happened for 8.60 lakh seats, which was 52.2 per cent only. As many as 410 colleges have been approved by the AICTE for progressive closure, from 2014-15 to 2017-18.

The Minister clarified that the AICTE does not close down any institute on its own. He stated that however, some institutes have been closed down on their request of financial non-viability, etc. including the shortage of students.

The engineering institutes have the option for reducing the seats themselves with the approval of the Council. As per the AICTE, the institution having courses where admission is zero for the past five years, such courses shall be closed in the current academic year with the approval of the Council.