179 professional colleges shut down this year\, highest in last 9 years\, shows AICTE data
NEW DELHI: Nearly 180
professional
college, including engineering institutes and business schools, have
shut
down during the academic
year 2020-21, the
highest number of closure of technical institutions
in the
last nine
years, according to All India Council of Technical Eduction (AICTE) data.
Besides the closure of
179 institutes, at least 134 institutes did not seek approval
this
year
in view of large number of seats lying vacant over the
last 5
years thus making it unviable for continuing the institution.
Also, at least 44 institutes could not get approval or their approvals were withdrawn due to punitive action by the technical education regulator.
While 92 technical institutes had to close
down
in the 2019-20 academic session, the figures were 89 (2018-19), 134 (2017-18), 163 (2016-17), 126 (2015-16) and 77 (2014-15).
Progressive closure means institute cannot admit the students for the first
year during the academic
year, however, the existing students will continue till completion of their course and their degrees are treated as valid.
In the academic
year 2020-21, a total of 1.09 lakh seats approved by AICTE have been reduced
in pharmacy and architecture institutions.
"As per recent Supreme Court judgement, for functioning of existing and setting up of new Architecture and Pharmacy
colleges, approval of only 'Council of Architecture' and 'Pharmacy Council of India' respectively will be mandatory from academic
Year 2020-2021," a senior AICTE official said.
"As a result, the approval of AICTE has been made non-mandatory.Consequently, many of these
colleges have withdrawn their affiliation & approval from AICTE resulting
in bulk reduction of seats. Effectively, the seats of pharmacy and architecture have now been taken over by their respective regulatory bodies," he added.
According to official statistics, over 69,000 seats
in 762
colleges have been reduced due to reduction
in intake or closure of a particular course or division.
"The approval process for
year 2020-2021 was a considerable departure from the previous
years on several counts. Due to the imposition and subsequent extensions of lockdown, the approval process was delayed. It was initiated
in the month of May and completed
in June end.
"Moreover, the rigorous scrutiny which was undertaken physically at various regional offices was conducted via an online process.
This involved using online video-conferencing for stakeholders to connect, verification of infrastructure and campus facilities virtually and uploading digitally signed documents. Even though new Management and Polytechnic Engineering Institutes have added seats, there has been reduction
in AICTE approved Seats," the official said.
The AICTE has also granted approval to 164 new institutes for the 2020-21 academic season, adding up to 39,000 seats.