UGC says no to new engineering colleges in 2014

In an epic decision, the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India announced that there will not be any approval for opening of new engineering colleges in India, at least in 2014. According to a report by AICTE in 2013, India had an estimated 3500 engineering colleges across all streams. With so many colleges already into existence and many more in the pipeline and the given decline of engineering aspirants for various reasons, UGC arrived at the decision to put a hold on establishing newer colleges of engineering in India.

The announcement came in continuation of UGC's earlier communication vide D.O. No. 14-9/2013 (CPP-II) dated August 7, 2013 of University Grants Commission in a letter to all the universities.

The percentage growth in number of engineering institutions in India has seen a decline in recent years; from 43% in the academic year of 2008-09 to 3% in 2012-13. This decline can be attributed to:  

•  Weak regulatory mechanisms
• Profit motives of some business players.
• More and more affiliations of colleges by universities
• Malpractices by accreditation boards to grant permissions to new institutes
• Grant by accreditation boards to increase seats of existing engineering institutes

UGC vice-chairperson H Devaraj said, "AICTE reports showed that several seats were going vacant in engineering colleges, and the notification for the UGC (Affiliation of Colleges offering Technical Education by Universities) Regulations 2014 has not yet come, whereas according to a Supreme Court judgment, approvals have to be finalised by the end of April. So, there won't be enough time".

With this decision, existing engineering colleges in India have a ray of hope in finally filling their seats in this academic year. With no more new engineering college in the offing, students will be compelled to take up admissions in the existing engineering colleges in India. While colleges based out of cities have their seats relatively full, city colleges face the brunt of not having enough students every year. This is, of course, barring the Indian Institute of Technology’s, National Institute of Technology’s and some other popular engineering colleges in India.

By not getting enough students to fill their seats, many engineering colleges have put up their colleges for sale for not being able to meet the infrastructural costs, salaries etc. In addition to this, the number of applications for starting new colleges and courses has gone down significantly. The declining number can be attributed to the fact that many engineering pass-outs of previous years are still looking for employment. Also the popularity of other streams like Arts, Commerce & Science, both in terms of creativity and lucrative quotient has gone up.

In Tamil Nadu alone, about a lakhs engineering seats remained vacant. This figure is bleak in other states too. So it is of no wonder that UGC’s decision to put a brake to opening of new engineering courses and new engineering colleges in India has been welcomed with open arms by the existing engineering colleges in India at large.

Engineering Colleges in Other Location: