In a strange turn of events, the managements of engineering colleges in the state have proposed that engineering seats should be slashed from the existing 3.4 lakh to 2 lakh from the academic year 2013-14.
This is to ensure that qualified faculty is available in all colleges for improving standards in engineering education and to enhance the employment potential of students.
The proposal has surprised the government since managements have hitherto been demanding increases in the number of seats and submitting applications for new colleges every year, resulting in an explosion in the number of engineering seats — from 80,000 seats in 230 colleges in 2004, to 3.40 lakh seats in 710 colleges today.
With supply surpassing demand by leaps and bounds, nearly 2 lakh seats have gone vacant this year, raising serious concerns about the survival of over 300 colleges.
“This proposal is mooted by the managements voluntarily. Despite several rounds of admissions, nearly 1.75 lakh to 2 lakh seats are going vacant. There is no point in holding those excess seats since the state has the capacity to absorb only up to 2 lakh seats.
The colleges are struggling to provide required faculty and infrastructure to protect those excess seats and incurring unnecessary expenditure. This is also leading to shortage of qualified faculty. All these problems can be overcome if excess seats are slashed,” said Ch. Malla Reddy, chairman of the Malla Reddy Group of Institutions.
The managements have asked the government to categorise engineering colleges into groups to slash the seats — those functioning for more than five years and those for less than five years. They sought approval for only 300 seats in colleges that are less than five years old and 540 seats in colleges that are older and accredited by respective agencies.