Kerala: Steps to close down vacant tech colleges

Thiruvananthapuram: With about 800 of 3,000 private engineering colleges offering B Tech courses across the country having enrolment percentage less than 50 percent, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has mooted a progressive closure. The total seats for engineering in the country is 13.56 lakh and the crisis as they increased them without considering the demand-supply ratio.  Job opportunities have reduced gradually due to poor skill imparted by these colleges.

A 'progressive closure' means the institute cannot make new admissions, while the existing students will continue. If the state government follows the AICTE directive to shut down colleges with less than 30 percent admissions during five consecutive years and lacking in infrastructure, around 36 will have to down the shutters this year. After the last round of allotment to private self-financing colleges in the state last year, 36 had less than 30 percent intake and similar was the case for most of them for the past five years.

The situation in neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu was no different. Twenty colleges in Karnataka and 31 in Tamil Nadu have already decided to fold. APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University pro vice-chancellor M. Abdul Rahman said the AICTE had visited all the colleges with less than 30 percent admissions. 
"However, they have decided not to go by enrollments alone but also to look into the infrastructure," he said. 

"They have asked for reducing the intake and other corrective measures for some. The final decision has not been taken yet." IT commentator V. K. Adarsh said most of the colleges started when there was a shortage of seats and demands were high. "Over the years, seats became surplus due to reduced demand. In a globalised world, only those that can match up to infrastructure standards and quality of teaching can survive," he said.  "Others would have to close down."

The number of seats has been on the decline from 2016, and according to AICTE, 75,000 seats are reduced annually across the country.  In 2016-17, total intake capacity was 15,71,220. However, the enrolment was just 7, 87,127 or 50.1 percent.  In 2015-16, it was 16, 47,155, of which enrolment was 8, 60,357 (52.2 percent). According to the AICTE website, it has approved the closure of more than 410 across the country, from 2014-15 to 2017-18.