AICTE readies to axe 40 per cent BE seats across country

Chennai: The All India Council for Technical Education’s decision to reduce the number of engineering seats in the country from 16.7 lakh to six  lakh has evoked mixed response from the state. The council’s decision will see the scaling down of a substantial number of seats over four years.

Reports indicate that the AICTE is looking at a 40 per cent reduction in the number of undergraduate engineering seats across the country in the next few years. During a visit to the city last month, AICTE chairman Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe had elaborated on the problem engineering education was facing and highlighted the fact that nearly 40 per cent seats had gone vacant in the country.  “Faculty shortage is the biggest challenge in technical colleges, both government and private. We don’t have faculty and when it comes to quality faculty, that too with Ph.Ds, they don’t exist,” he said. This declining state of affairs had reportedly prompted the move to reduce the number of seats.

While there are many who feel that the move will improve the quality of engineering education in colleges, others are unsure of the impact. Former chairman of AICTE  S. S. Mantha said cutting down on number of engineering seats is not the way to look at it.  Quality did not depend on number of seats.   “Access to engineering education must be made available to everybody who desires it. At the same time, one should also put in teacher facilitation programme, teaching improvement centres and value addition. Then only the quality can be improved, not just by cutting down the number, “ he said.

Abhinav, an IIT student, said, cutting down of number cannot be viewed in isolation. One-way government should focus more on technology and resources which is not even helping the country.