Since 2016, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has closed 128 engineering colleges across the country. The HRD Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ informed the Lok Sabha on Monday. Pokhriyal further informed that in the academic year 2018-19, a total of 26 engineering colleges have been closed. The number has declined from 55 in 2016-17 and 47 in 2017-18.
The number of closed engineering colleges in the last three years is higher in Telangana with 26 followed by Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan with 14 each.
Over 37 lakh engineering seats remain vacant at 10,361 institutions. In 2017, AICTE announced to shut down colleges that have more than 30 percent of the total seats vacant over the last five years. An expert panel had advised AICTE to stop setting up new colleges from 2020. The panel further asked to review the creation of new capacity every two years subsequently.
The HRD Minister also informed the House that there is no proposal to set up new engineering colleges in India.
About AICTE:
The All India Council for Technical Education is the statutory body and a national-level council for technical education, under the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Source: The Indian Express