COIMBATORE: The Union Ministry for Human Resource Development’s recent proposal to restrict approvals for new engineering colleges in the country and base it on the demand-supply axis has yet again shifted the focus on the need to regulate the mushrooming of technical institutions.The HRD Ministry had recently asked the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to write to State governments and ascertain if states with a surplus of BE/BTech seats wished to open the doors for more engineering colleges. In Tamil Nadu, where a whopping 527 engineering colleges are functioning, this move is widely being seen as timely. This year alone, the number of BE/BTech seats had conservatively overshot the demand by more than 60,000 seats.In fact, alarmed by the overnight sprouting of engineering colleges, the previous DMK Government had decided to write to the AICTE, urging the regulatory body to stop issuing approvals for fresh engineering colleges.Asked about the latest development, Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister P Palaniappan said “Till date, we have not received any letter from the AICTE. Once we receive it, we will respond appropriately after consulting the Chief Minister.”Officials in the State Higher Education Ministry, who did not wish to be named, pointed out that the growth of engineering colleges has been drastic in the last five years. “From just 247 engineering colleges during the academic year, 2006-07, we now have 527 institutions. Simultaneously the number of BE/BTech seats available in these engineering colleges had also risen from 93,834 in 2006-07 to 1,95,324 in 2010-11. The latest figure (under compilation) has exceeded 2 lakh seats,” a senior official said. “Under the Government quota alone, this year more than 44,000 seats had no takers clearly indicating that the supply is far higher than the demand. Obviously we don’t need new engineering colleges,” the official explained.While during 2009, the total vacancies in undergraduate degree programmes in engineering colleges stood at 52,000-plus seats, the gap was bridged to some extent last year when only 33,093 seats had no takers. However, this year the negative graph has increased.
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