Expect 50,000 less engg seats this year: AICTE

■ Earlier, 16.5 lakh engineering seats were available across 10,000 engineering colleges and it was reduced to 14.5 lakhs in the last few years.

In continuance with the trend, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is expecting a fall of up to

50,000 engineering seats across the country in the coming academic year

(2019-20), AICTE chairman Anil D. Sahasrabudhe said.

After releasing the book “Modern Scientific Thought” by Professor P.C. Chandrasekharan at Anna University on Sunday, he told reporters that too many vacant seats in engineering colleges still remains a challenge.

“Currently, 14.5 lakh engineering seats are available across the country and students joining the engineering courses have stabilised at around

8 to 9 lakh,” he said. Earlier, 16.5 lakh engineering seats were available across 10,000 engineering colleges and it was reduced to 14.5 lakhs in the last few years.

“If the available seats were reduced to 12 lakhs then it is a good equation. Students will have choices if the number of seats is slightly more,” he said.

When asked about AICTE allowing the engineering colleges to start other streams such as arts and science within the same campus, he said, “We want engineering students to mingle with students from other streams for their holistic development.”

On the issue of engineering colleges withholding the original certificates of faculty members, he said, “We have made a clear regulation that no certificates of the faculty members and students should be withheld by the institutions.”

“If they want to check the credentials of the certificates, the institutions can keep it for a few days and have to return it to the faculty members. After that, there is no need to hold any certificates. If faculty members want to go elsewhere, the colleges cannot stop them,” he said.

The AICTE chairman also appealed to the faculty members not to leave the colleges in the middle of the semester as it would affect the interest of students.