AICTE Extends Ban on New Engineering Colleges in India Until 2024

The All India Council for Technical Education has banned new engineering colleges in India due to low enrollments in engineering and diploma programmes. Hence, the country will not see new engineering colleges until 2024. AICTE decided to ban new engineering colleges after holding three meetings with an expert committee led by IIT-Hyderabad Board of Governors chairman B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, on whose recommendations the ban was first put in place.

The committee’s recommendation had come when engineering colleges in India recorded a 10-year-low in the number of seats being offered this year. Officials had cited the closure of over 340 colleges between 2018-19 and 2020-21 and the ban on the opening of new colleges as the reason behind the drop.

“The Committee has held three meetings on 18.10.2021, 10.11.2021 & 30.11.2021 and reviewed the engineering capacity, enrollment and placement data over the last three years in engineering institutions. In light of low enrolments into the Engineering and Diploma programmes across the country, the committee in its interim report submitted in December 2021 recommended to continue the moratorium on approving new Engineering colleges in the country barring a few exceptions,” education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in the statement.

AICTE chief Sahashrabudde said: “The seat vacancy in engineering colleges has only slightly improved, but for it to get better, this ban on new institutes needs to continue.” According to the data presented by the minister, the total intake in the AICTE approved engineering institutions has declined from 26,95,333 in the academic year 2012-13 to 23,66,728 in the academic year 2021-22. The number of admissions was 24,42,948 in 2020-21, and 25,39,682 in 2019-20.