Thiruvananthapuram: Two more engineering colleges have sought the permission of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University to close down for want of students. They are Believers Church Engineering College, Pathanamthitta, and Ilahia School of Engineer-ing, Muvattupuzha. The university has not taken a decision on their applications.
Last year, ten engineering colleges had closed down. They are: Archana College of Engineering, Palamel, Alappuzha; Aryanet Institute of Technology, Pudupar-iyaram, Palakkad; KMP College of Engineering, Cherukunnam, Perumbavoor; KVM College of Engineering, Cherthala; Mukambika Technical Campus, Edap-pally; Pankajakashturi College of Engineering, Kandala, Thiruvananth-apuram; Pinnacle College of Engineering and Technology, Anchal; Prime College of Engineering, Erattayal, Palakkad; Shahul Hameed Memorial Engineering College, Kadakkal, Kollam and St Gregorios College of Engineering, Enmakaje, Kasargod.
The Travancore Engineering College, Oyyoor, Kollam, had closed down in 2016. The PA Aziz Engineering College, Karakulam, Thir-uvananthapuram, was shut in 2015 following a directive by the AICTE. Both these colleges along with KVM College of Engineering, Cherthala, have sought the permission of the technological university to reopen. The university has asked them to submit their applications afresh.
The syndicate also entrusted the affiliation sub-committee chaired by Mr Radhakrishna G. Pillai to study the proposals for sanctioning new colleges and courses.
As per the technological university data, 25,470 engineering seats were vacant in the state in 2017-18. Of the total 33,012 government quota seats, 14,714 were allotted to engineering colleges. In 59 colleges, 127 batches did not get even a single student. Last year, four engineering colleges did not have any student and three had just one student.
The Commissioner of Entrance Examinations (CEE) had earlier rejected the demand of self-financing engineering colleges to water down the eligibility criteria for entrance examinations.
The managements had wanted that students who passed the qualifying examinations must be allowed to seek admissions to management quota without writing the entrance examinations.
They also wanted scrapping of the criterion that candidates must have passed higher secondary examination, Kerala or equivalent examination with 50 percent marks in mathematics separately and 50 percent marks in mathematics, physics and chemistry put together to seek admissions to merit quota seat.
