No new engg or technical colleges to open this year
Students having completed Class 12 may have less scope as no new Engineering and Technical institutes will be opened in this academic year. There are large number of vacant seats in existing colleges due to which the state has not allowed any new institutes to be established.
The state government has directed the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) not to provide approval (No Objection Certificate NOC) to any new colleges. This move has come after the state conducted a study of all engineering and technical institutes of Maharashtra.
The study revealed over 40 per cent seats in existing 1,564 engineering and technical institutes of Maharashtra are vacant. Amit Dutta, Regional Officer of AICTE, Mumbai said, “The demand is less and the supply is more as student intake is less and number of seats are more. There is no point in opening new colleges if the seats in existing colleges are not filled.”
Also, every year there are new players who want to open new colleges but this year the AICTE has not received any new applications yet. Instead of opening new institutes the AICTE aims to improve the state of existing colleges. “We aim to improve start-up policy, funding schemes, scholarships and industry connect in existing colleges. This will help provide better opportunities and expansive platform for students,” Dutta added.
Students claimed there are sufficient colleges but the admission process has loopholes. A student said, “Even though there are many seats there is a lot of corruption in the admission process. Seats are given for a price discreetly due to which large number of students do not end up getting admissions despite a decent merit score.”