The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has extended its ban on setting up of new Engineering institutes till 2024. The ban was put in place taking into consideration the low admission in the engineering and diploma programs across the country.
AICTE Chief Sahasrabuddhe has said that the ban needs to continue till the seat vacancy scenario in the existing colleges does not improve, as with more seats than students, the revenue that is generated by students’ fees will decrease that would have an impact on the resources of the institution – its infrastructure, faculty, and finally effecting the quality of education.
As per media reports, there has been a dip in the number of students taking admission in engineering colleges. In 2015-16, there were around 3 million engineering seats and the enrollment in the program dipped to 2.4 million in 2020-21. A seat vacancy of 45% was witnessed across colleges in India in 2020. The closure of 340 engineering colleges between 2018 – 2021 is also one of the reasons why this step has been taken by AICTE.
However, as an exception to this rule, new institutes will be allowed in areas where there aren’t enough government funded engineering institutes.
