AICTE To Cut Down 40% UG Engineering Seats To Maintain Quality

In order to the tackle the problem of degrading education quality for engineers, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided to cut down its undergraduate engineering seats by 40%. In the same context, the AICTE has also decided to shut down some schools and reduce the number of admissions over the next few years.

According to the reports, AICTE is likely to bring down the number of engineering students from 16.6 lakh to 10 lakh- 11 lakh. In the year 2015, the council has shut down 556 courses/departments of engineering colleges.

The problem in the quality of education was spotted when companies from various engineering colleges started complaining about the quality of students. Except for few top colleges like IITs and BITS-Pilani, other students from other colleges suffered due to lack of poor infrastructure and faculty. The poor quality of education at these institutes create many unemployable graduates every year.

According to a survey published by Nasscom, only 17.5% of total engineering students got employment in 2011. The demand-supply imbalance is also one of the major reasons for the increasing number of unemployed engineers every year. The intake capacity of engineering colleges is much higher as compared to the demand in the market. The council has received 1,422 applications seeking the permission to shut down. However, they have made clear that no engineering school will be forced to shut down. The council will also check that these educational properties, after the shut down, do not turn into a real state business.