AICTE

10,000 TN engg seats down, no admission in 28 tech institutes

Vinayashree J | TNN | May 21, 2017,

Chennai: As many as 28 technical institutions in Tamil Nadu will not carry out admissions for the upcoming 2017-18 academic year, leading to a reduction of about 10,000 BE/BTech seats in the state.

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe who was in the city on Saturday said that 22 colleges had applied for closure in the state. This includes five engineering colleges (about 8,700 seats), 3 diploma colleges and 14 MBA/MCA institutes which applied for closure voluntarily due to lack of intake.

Six other institutions were placed under the 'No admission' category by the AICTE due to deficiencies, said officials. Among the six colleges, two were inspected last year while four others were inspected this year by the governing body. "The six were placed under zero admission due to complaints and lack of facilities," said AICTE regional officer R Balamurugan. Another 1,500 engineering seats will be reduced across these institutes, he added. These colleges are in Kanyakumari, Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem and Karaikal.

Besides this, 154 other institutions have applied for reduction in intake, and closure of courses, said AICTE officials. The AICTE recently carried out a surprise inspection on 311 colleges in the country of which 41 were in Tamil Nadu. Among these colleges that comprise 3% of the technical institutions in the country, Sahasrabudhe said that more than 60%, i.e. about 187, had deficiencies.

These shortcomings range from minor to major ones and included faculty shortage, lack of infrastructure, payment related issues, issues related to 6th pay commission norms, and planning approval. AICTE officials said that some of the colleges which had minor complaints were given a show cause notice and were given up to three months to address the issues. Some non-performing institutions have also been given a warning by AICTE.

Colleges which have applied for closure will not carry out admissions from the upcoming year. However, the official closure will be issued based on approval from the Tamil Nadu government once a report is submitted.

From next year, the AICTE is planning to automatically close down colleges that have not been able to maintain a minimum of 30% intake over five consecutive years, said Balamurugan.

Meanwhile, the AICTE has also approved 16 new institutions that will come up in the state in the upcoming year. This includes eight pharmacy colleges, two engineering, two government polytechnic colleges, and four post- graduate management diploma colleges. The only addition of engineering seats this year will be the 300 seats of Amrita School of Engineering, Chennai campus, which will be an addition under the single window counselling conducted by Anna University.

Prist University campuses in Chennai and Madurai will now be deemed universities while the diploma courses in MGR Film Institute will be closed and instead will be offered as degree courses.

Sahasrabudhe was speaking at a conclave organised by the consortium of self-financing professional arts and science colleges in Tamil Nadu. The engineering conclave organised on Saturday was planned to deliberate on and arrive at viable strategies for finetuning the current technical education system. The measures suggested included faculty training programmes, induction programmes for students and teachers, creating interaction between industry and academia, and development of tech parks among institutions.