Scrap TS EAMCET for BTech admissions, overhaul JNTUH affiliation, grade engineering colleges: Telangana panel

The Telangana Education Commission (TEC) has recommended that the state scrap the entrance test for engineering and other professional courses, the TS EAMCET – now called TS EAPCET – and admit students on the basis of Class 12 scores. It has also recommended performance-based ranking of engineering colleges and a sanctioned intake that is linked to performance. The recommendations come with criticism of the state’s engineering offering – the count of colleges has shrunk to less than half, very few make the ranking charts, BTech graduate unemployment is over 15% and among those with jobs, salaries are low.

The TEC, which submitted its draft roadmap for education in the Telangana earlier this week, has also recommended allocating 30-35% of the total score in engineering courses to internships and apprenticeships and making Industry Engagement, Placement and Patent Cells

(IEPPC) mandatory for institutes to have. The commission has also recommended a time-bound faculty hiring plan and said that all admissions, including NRI quota ones, be conducted through TS EAMCET counselling. TS EAMCET, now known as TS EAPCET, is the state’s common admission process.

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The Telangana commission’s report, Education Policy for Telangana 2026: Vision for Inclusive Excellence, was placed in the public domain for comment this week. The TEC is led by Akunuri Murali, a senior bureaucrat, and was set up in 2024, with an aim to implement National Education Policy.

TS EAPCET: Telangana Education Commission proposals

The Telangana Education Commission calls for “discontinuing Engineering, Agriculture and Pharmacy Common Entrance Test (EAPCET) and using strengthened intermediate public examination marks as the basis for undergraduate admissions”. The TEC also advocates for scrapping the medical entrance test, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), throwing its weight behind Tamil Nadu’s stand on NEET.

“We recommend discontinuing with EAPCET and making intermediate 2nd year marks the basis for admission to engineering, science, agriculture and pharmacy colleges in all-state universities in Telangana, including in their affiliated colleges. Even the admissions for medical courses should be based on the Intermediate (12 th class) marks. The Telangana government should strongly advocate with the Government of India for the cancellation of NEET,” says the report.

While it wants the TS EAPCET scrapped altogether in the long-term, for the immediate future, the TEC wants even NRI quota admissions to be via the TS EAPCET or TS ECET.

“Any unfilled seats under the NRI quota shall not be filled by candidates who have not appeared for or qualified through EAPCET. Conversion of NRI seats, where permitted, must be limited strictly to EAPCET or ECET qualified candidates. Further, no admission shall be allowed outside the frameworks of EAPCET and ECET except for actual NRIs under the NRI quota,” the report says.

Plus, in the school section, it recommends recruiting teachers to coach for TS EAPCET.

Telangana: 1.3 lakh BTech seats, 17% empty

Telangana has 175 engineering colleges now, down from 353 in 2017, an over 50% drop. Of these, the vast majority – 91% – are private-unaided and affiliated to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTUH). Together, they have around 1.3 lakh BTech seats, the report says.

Despite the overall shrinkage in engineering education, large swathes of seats remain vacant. For 2025-26 – the current academic year – of the total intake of 1,29,367, about 22,505 engineering seats still remain vacant.

Despite this scale, most engineering colleges in the state remain small and fragmented. “Engineering education in the state consists mainly of small colleges, with an average enrollment per college of 611 students in 2024.”

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Engineering college grading; BTech internship

The commission recommends that the state starts grading engineering colleges on a range of quality parameters, including infrastructure, faculty, research and learning outcomes. The state must “institutionalise a Technical Education Analytics Support unit” and establish “a single integrated database… for effective monitoring and quality improvement” with provisions for public disclosures, says the TEC report.

The TEC has also suggested that hands-on training be worked into the BTech curriculum itself and that “at least 30–35% of the total programme credits are allocated to experiential learning”, including apprenticeships, industry-linked projects, and practical training. The report adds that the state should “establish an industry-university partnership framework” and mandate “Industry Engagement, Placement and Patent Cells” in all institutions.

Finally, the commission has stressed that “faculty vacancies and weak infrastructure… should be addressed as a priority.”

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Engineers: 15.8% unemployed; 40% underemployed

Despite Telangana’s rapid expansion in engineering education, the commission flagged deep structural gaps in curriculum relevance, employability, faculty capacity, and institutional governance.

The report notes that curricula “have not been updated in line with contemporary industry demand”, leaving graduates insufficiently prepared. This is reflected in the estimated 15.8% unemployment among engineering graduates of the state.

Among those who are employable, says the commission report, 40% are underemployed, “doing low-paid jobs due to the non-availability of relevant, appropriate jobs”. It further says, “The median monthly earnings for engineering graduates, at Rs 15,000–Rs 16,000, remain only marginally higher than those without engineering qualifications.”

Around 70% of the total sanctioned posts in engineering colleges – 544 in absolute terms – are vacant and there’s “heavy reliance on contract and guest faculty”.

Alarmingly, the report states that the last university assistant professor recruitment was conducted more than 15 years ago, in 2009 which has severely affected teaching quality, research output, and institutional governance.

The Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT), established to serve rural students, faces severe funds shortage, has had no vice-chancellor for close to a decade and holds a “C” grade in National Assessment and Accreditation Council’s (NAAC) accreditation exercise.

Telangana private engineering colleges

The report highlighted that private institutions dominate Telangana’s engineering education landscape, both in number and enrollment. Of the 175 engineering colleges, 160 are private.

TEC has raised serious concerns about quality and infrastructure in many of these private institutions. It observed that “many private engineering colleges operate with substandard infrastructure, low student-faculty ratios and minimum basic amenities despite clear regulatory standards set by national bodies.” However, it added that while the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) clearly defines minimum standards for the establishment and functioning of engineering colleges, enforcement remains uneven.

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A major challenge lies in the concentration of affiliations under a single university. The report says, “Currently, most engineering colleges in technical education are affiliated with JNTUH placing significant regulatory pressure on the institution.” The commission found that the university is “overburdened with the governance of nearly 150 private engineering colleges due to limited staff, weak analytical support, and monitoring mechanisms affecting its ability to ensure consistent quality and regulation”.

The commission highlighted “the need for an immediate plan to re-examine the state universities' existing affiliation model to improve quality and accountability.”