Total Number Of Engineering Seats Falls To 14.66 lakh As AICTE Cuts 1.64 Lakh Spots 

Through a number of fresh measures, the national regulatory body overlooking technical education, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), has reduced the number of engineering seats (both UG and PG) across the country by over 1.64 lakh, reports The New Indian Express.

Firstly, seats at colleges which were only able to admit students to fill up below 30 per cent of their authorised intake have been reduced by 50 per cent. Apart from this, 83 83 engineering colleges have themselves asked to be shut down, taking away more than 20,000 more seats.

Some 1.20 lakh seats have disappeared due to the discontinuation of specific courses or the reduction in intake.

“Some colleges did not achieve even 30 per cent admissions in the last five years, some others have applied to reduce seats or to shut down, and, finally, penal action was taken against some institutions for not maintaining quality standards, with respect to number of faculty or infrastructure,” said AICTE Chairman Anil D Sahasrabudhe

The reduction of seats means that the total number of available engineering spots across the country has come down to 14.66 lakh this year. Just a few years ago in 2014-15, the number of engineering seats was as high as 19.01 lakh.