MUMBAI: Sixty degree and diploma engineering colleges across the state, particularly in its rural parts, may be shut down as more than 40% of their seats are lying vacant though the admission process is almost complete. Earlier, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) gave permission for closure of engineering colleges after the state issued no-objection certificates. Now, though, in view of a recent Supreme Court order, the University Grants Commission will have to take the decision and not AICTE. We expect managements of 60 colleges to seek permission for closure of their institutes, a senior bureaucrat told TOI on Saturday. Once permission is granted, the bureaucrat added, college managements may convert the educational complexes into malls or utilize them for other commercial purposes. Most managements had taken loans ranging from Rs 15 crore to Rs 20 crore when they started out. Now, they have no option but to utilize the premises for commercial purposes to repay their loans. The bureaucrat blamed AICTE for the mess in technical education. Although we made it clear to AICTE that there are an estimated 1.4 lakh vacancies in professional colleges, it went ahead and granted permission for 11 more colleges, he said. Elaborating on the vacancy status of degree colleges, the bureaucrat said against the student intake capacity of 1.5 lakh, 55,000 seats are lying vacant. In diploma colleges, 60,000 seats are empty against the capacity for 1.6 lakh students. According to the bureaucrat, 42.7% of engineering seats in Aurangabad region were not filled, followed by 38% in Nashik, 28.9% in Pune, 27% in Nagpur, 26.7% in Amravati and 8.5% in Mumbai region. In the past four years, Maharashtra has been seeing a steady rise in vacant seats and it expected AICTE to take corrective measures, he said. AICTE should have drafted a master plan on whether there was a need for more seats in degree and diploma colleges. It appears that no steps were taken to ensure colleges do not face shutdown. The bureaucrat said while there was no end to the demand for private colleges in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur, there are no takers in rural areas. There is a regional imbalance. Its the AICTE as well as the state governments responsibility to ensure equitable distribution of seats. AICTE should not consider applications for colleges in urban areas for increasing seats. A news you might have missed courtesy TOI.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 07:19:44 +0000
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