At least one-third of the total sanctioned seats in undergraduate engineering institutions approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) are lying vacant.
In 2021-22, 4,21,203 of the approved 12,53,337 seats were not filled, the Union Education Ministry informed the Rajya Sabha (RS) on Wednesday. In 2020-21, 5,66,538 seats were vacant against the approved 12,86,545. In 2019-20, it was 5,87,314 against the sanctioned 13,28,247, while in 2018-19, the number of vacant seats was 6,78,932 against the approved intake of 13,95,345. In 2017-18, this number was 7,22,112 against the sanctioned 14,65,873, data shared by minister of state for education Dr Subhas Sarkar in a written response to the RS showed.
“The filling up of seats in engineering institutes is dependent on a demand-supply situation which is dependent on the location of the institutes, academic and infrastructural facilities therein and the placement opportunities,” Dr Sarkar, cited as reasons for the seats going unfilled in the written response.
REVIEW NEEDED?
Given the low enrolment in engineering and diploma programmes across the country, the AICTE had set up a committee in 2018 to look for ways to overhaul the engineering education in the county. The committee headed by BVR Mohan Reddy, the chairman of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad, had then advised the government to put a moratorium on granting approvals to new engineering colleges for two years starting 2020 and “review” the creation of new capacity every two years.
Last year, with the number of vacant seats still high, the committee, in its interim report tabled in Parliament, had recommended continuing the freeze, barring some exceptions.
SHIFT IN MINDSET?
Higher education experts, however, said that one should not go by these figures alone, as the number of admissions in engineering colleges has not gone down, but has just shifted from one type of institution to another. Most students, in recent years, opt for better private universities than deemed-to-be state universities or colleges for various reasons.
“Most of the engineering institutions approved by the AICTE are deemed-to-be universities or colleges affiliated to state universities. Many, despite being good colleges with lower fees, are not able to fill up the seats, as students opt for bigger private universities, which often have better campus, attractive infrastructure or better placement opportunities, instead. It is more of a mindset shift,” said Anil Sahasrabuddhe, chairperson, National Education Technology Forum (NETF) and former head of AICTE.
He added: “Last year, the number of admissions was actually higher because of good placements across institutions after two years of the pandemic, which may not be the case, say, four years down the line. So, it’s a dynamic situation. One has to watch the trend for at least over a period of 10 years to understand and draw conclusions.”
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