The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will extend the ban on new engineering institutes in the country by another two years, until 2024, in view of the 45% seat vacancy reported across engineering institutes across India in 2020. The decision was announced at a stakeholder’s meeting held in Nagpur on December 17.

AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabuddhe confirmed that the moratorium on opening of new colleges has been extended by two years. “A committee was appointed to once again study the current scenario. In their report, they have rightfully suggested the ban on new colleges be extended by two years. Seat vacancy in engineering colleges has only slightly improved, but for it to get better, this ban on new institutes needs to continue,” said Sahasrabuddhe.

With admissions to engineering colleges on the decline in the past five years – from 3 million engineering seats (undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma included) in 2015-16, the intake capacity dropped to 2.4 million in the 2020-21 academic year – AICTE had called for a two-year ban on new engineering institutes from academic year 2020-21. With the implementation of the two-year blanket ban on new engineering institutes, AICTE in 2021 accepted closure applications of 63 institutes, while 32 institutes applied for withdrawal of approval and a staggering 500 institutes around the country did not apply for continuation of approval for the 2021-22 academic year.

“New institute approvals have only been allowed in districts with not enough government-funded engineering institutes in order to give aspirants the option of studying closer to home. In the last two years, only government-funded new institute approvals have been accepted in order to ensure engineering seats are affordable for students,” added Sahasrabuddhe.

The situation seems to be slightly improving in the past couple of years, said experts. In Maharashtra, BTech (undergraduate engineering degree) applications went up by almost 15% this year—from 96,333 admission registrations in 2020, the confirmed applications stood at 1.1 lakh this year. The total intake capacity for BTech course stands at 1.3 lakh in the state this year.

After two rounds of common admission process (CAP), conducted by the state common entrance test (CET) cell, only 64,623 students have managed confirm their admissions in the course as yet. “We are extending the admissions deadline after every CAP round to give students more time to complete the process, but the number of admission confirmation is not as expected,” said a senior official from the state CET cell. This means after two rounds of admission, nearly 50% BTech seats remain unclaimed in the state at present.

“Popular courses among students at present are the new age courses including artificial intelligence (AI) and data science among others, especially because of the jobs being offered in these sectors. However, colleges in rural parts of the state are still struggling to fill up seats and this is adding to the overall seat vacancy figures,” said the principal of a private engineering college in Mumbai.