300 Engineering colleges to be closed down

New Delhi Dec 2: In a move to improve the quality of engineering, Union HRD has instructed 300 engineering colleges to shut down their operations from the 2018-19 academic session. They have been also ordered would be asked not to undertake admission process for any fresh batch as they had less than 30% enrolment for five consecutive years.

Officials have also said 500 more colleges would also bee scrutinized as they are unable to fill up the seats.

The All India Council for Technical Education AICTE has asked all such colleges to consider alternate options like converting to science colleges or vocational education institutions.

Currently, there are 3,000 private engineering colleges offering undergraduate courses in India, with an intake capacity of 13.56 lakh. Of these, there are around 800 engineering colleges whose enrolment percentage is less than 50%.

AICTE Chairperson has said that "We are deliberating on the issue. The closure is an easy option, but that could also lead to many complications as they have invested money, have bank loans. Taking a holistic view, those institutions which are borderline cases may not be asked to close down but they will be asked to choose alternate options on their own."