AICTE bans setting up of new engineering colleges for two years

According to the reports, India has a total of 27 lakh seats in the technical stream (undergraduate-14 lakh, diploma – 11 lakh, 1.8 lakh- postgraduate) but only 13 lakh students took admission in 2019-20, with around 7 lakh out of the total joined the undergraduate programmes.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has put a ban on setting up new engineering colleges for the next two years. The council has put a brake on expanding engineering education considering the number of admissions took place during the admission season of 2019-20. Due to the increase in BTech institutes, no fresh applications for setting up new engineering institutes will be accepted till 2022. In the admission season of 2019-20, every other seat in the technical stream remained vacant.

According to the reports, India has a total of 27 lakh seats in the technical stream (undergraduate-14 lakh, diploma – 11 lakh, 1.8 lakh- postgraduate) but only 13 lakh students took admission in 2019-20, with around 7 lakh out of the total joined the undergraduate programmes.

The new AICTE handbook that defines the guidelines for the upcoming academic year stated that  "In view of a large number of vacant seats in various programmes during the last few years and the likely future demand, the council shall not grant approval to new technical institutions at the diploma/ undergraduate/postgraduate level in engineering and technology,”

AICTE, headed by the chairman of IIT-Hyderabad, BVR Mohan Reddy, suggested that the ban will be reviewed after two years. His report stated that almost 49.8% of seats are lying vacant. Hence no new investment in creating a new capacity should be approved for the next two years. The creation of new capacities can be reviewed every two years after that. 

According to AICTE’s data, in 2019, only six lakh graduates got placed during the campus placement drive. A total of 518 engineering colleges got shut between 2015 and 2019.

Experts believe that the technology sector of India needs a revamp. Talking about the situation of the technical sector, the Institute of Chemical Technology’s former vice-chancellor, GD Yadav said that the technical education in India is facing a massive breakdown due to hopeless engineers and sluggishness in the industry.

The national perspective plan also states that the proposal of starting new programmes or increasing student intake in engineering colleges by the existing colleges will also be turned down, barring those that are starting courses in emerging areas.

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