The number of BE/B.Tech seats in engineering colleges across India may fall by 40,000 to 50,000 in the next academic year, 2019-20, according to All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) chairman Anil D. Sahasrabudhe.

“The actual number of seats available (currently) is 14.5 lakh, while it was 16.5 lakh earlier. Actually, only 8-9 lakh students are admitted now,” he said, on the sidelines of a book release at Anna University on Sunday.

For a lay person, the reduction may not be visible, as from this year, the Council would enumerate the seats in deemed universities too, he added. A clear picture of the number of colleges that could stop admitting students would emerge only after the April 30 deadline set for institutions to inform about the student intake, he said.

Anna University Vice-Chancellor M.K. Surappa, who received the first copy of the book ‘Modern scientific thought’ authored by former university professor P.C. Chandrasekaran, rued that universities, instead of being a place for debate and discussion of disruptive ideas had become institutions that were forced to simply embrace all regulations. Universities had transformed from knowledge providers to skill centres, he added.

Mr. Sahasrabudhe, however, said the Council was committed to exposing students to interdisciplinary research. The curriculum should excite them to learn and the Council had introduced several reforms to enable participation of all students. The Council’s student induction programme introduced last year had influenced the teachers’ understanding of students’ issues, he added.