Engineering seats reduced to lowest in 10 years; 63 institutes to shut in 2021
Engineering seats at the undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma levels have declined to 23.28 lakh — the lowest in at least 10 years, reveals the latest data from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The reduction in seats this year, on account of institute closure and decreased admission capacity, is pegged at 1.46 lakh. However, despite the significant drop, engineering still accounts for 80 per cent of the total seats in the technical education space (also made up of architecture, management, hotel management and pharmacy, among others) in the country.
400 engineering schools shut operations since 2014-15
At its peak, in 2014-15, engineering education had almost 32 lakh seats across all AICTE-approved institutions. The drop is being attributed to the consolidation that started seven years ago, with reduced demand forcing colleges to shut down. Since then, roughly 400 engineering schools have wound up operations. Except for last year, which is when Covid-induced disruption was first witnessed, at least 50 engineering institutes have closed every year since 2015-16. This year, 63 have got AICTE’s nod for closure.
The technical education regulator’s approval for setting up new engineering institutes is at a five-year low. In 2019, AICTE announced a two-year moratorium on new institutions starting 2020-21. This was done on the recommendation of a government committee headed by IIT Hyderabad chairman BVR Mohan Reddy.
As per the latest academic calendar of the AICTE, the first round of counselling will end on September 30 and the classes of technical courses for existing students will begin on October 1 and that of freshers will commence on October 25. The last date for cancellation of seats for technical courses with a full fee refund is October 15.
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