Univs close 102 engineering courses as demand stays low

Univs close 102 engineering courses as demand stays low

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:13.08.2021

Following poor admissions in the past few years, 14 deemed universities in Tamil Nadu including top institutes have closed 102 engineering courses including 62 postgraduate courses from 2021-22, according to data released by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

The discontinued courses vary from traditional engineering courses to highly specialised courses such as civil engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, electronics and instrumentation, power electronics, automobile engineering, nano science and technology and VLSI design and architecture among others.

Around 50 engineering colleges closed 97 engineering courses in Tamil Nadu including 17 colleges which have closed civil engineering course this year, the data showed. As many as four engineering colleges including three in Coimbatore region have got the permission for progressive closure from the technical council from 2021-22. An official from the deemed university which closed postgraduate and undergraduate courses said the main reason for closure of courses was poor enrolment in the past few years.

"The simple reason for closing postgraduate courses is they have no takers. AICTE software is calculating the faculty ratio for all approved courses and showing deficiency for the course which is not offered due to no enrolment. To avoid faculty deficiency, the institutes have closed many postgraduate courses," said S Vaidyasubramaniam, vicechancellor of SASTRA.

Several institutes have closed the part-time degree programmes.

R W Alexander Jesudasan, pro-vice-chancellor, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science in Chennai, said, the deemed universities will try to revive some of these courses with different course curriculum which will appeal to students and with different nomenclature.

"Higher education system is evolving one. There will be some programmes which will lose their importance and charm and other programmes will gain prominence. The deemed universities and autonomous colleges have freedom to close and introduce new courses depending upon the number of admissions," he added.