50 engineering colleges apply for closure this year

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) chairman professor Anil D Sahasrabudhe said that more seats going vacant in some private engineering colleges could be one of the reasons for such a decision, as it would make it economically unviable for them to run the institution with fewer students. 

According to AICTE data, 17 engineering colleges closed their operations in the academic year 2013-14, while 2014-15 saw 18 closures. “AICTE aims at providing good quality technical education in the country and to ensure quality education, we conduct checks when a college is established and also when they apply for increase in intake of seats,” said AICTE chairman. 

Asked about the trend, former Anna University vice-chancellor professor E Balagurusamy said that the number of private engineering colleges in the country that would like to close could be more than 50. “Several private engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu have fewer students. 

Many don’t opt for such institutions because of their poor infrastructure facilities and lack of resources. So, state government should conduct a study to find out the colleges which lack such facilities to guide students to get admission in the right institution,” he said. It may be recalled that about one lakh BE/BTech seats in private engineering colleges went vacant this academic year in Tamil Nadu.