The recent steps taken by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to streamline technical education seems to be narrowing down the gap between demand and supply in technical education. This is evident from the data provided by AICTE in its approval process handbook released recently for 2018-19 academic year. With these steps good quality educational institutions will survive and bad ones perish.

In 2012-13 academic year the intake in 10,271 technical education institutions across India was 37,23,711, which rose to 39,61,662 in 2014-15. This number began dipping from 2015-16 academic year (38,35,795 intake). For academic year 2017-18 academic year the total technical education intake stood at 35,52,713 (less by 4,08,949 compared to 2014-15 intake). In the same period from 2012-13 to 2017-18 the number of technical institutions rose by 131 from 2012-13 academic year to 2017-18.

As part of measures to improve the quality of technical education, the All India Council has come up with directives for colleges / institutions on changes in intake strength. One such idea is clustering of institutions which feel it difficult to fill up their seats—through cluster college system.

Also, this year, the Council in its Approval Process Handbook has come up prescriptions on intake reduction.

Thus, institutions with course(s) where the admission is less than 30 per cent of “approved intake” for the past 5 years, will have to reduce their intake by 50 per cent. Also Institutions having course(s) where admission is 0 (zero) for the past 5 years, such course(s) are to be closed from the current academic year.

Academicians feel that some of these measures will benefit both the institutions and students.

According to career counsellor and academician Mr. Jayaprakash A. Gandhi, the new regulations brought in by AICTE should be appreciated keeping in mind the future engineering profession in India.

“Colleges should invest in quality teaching. AICTE should impose still many more regulations so that only quality institutions continue to function, and others close down progressively if they are not able to deliver the expected quality in engineering education. These regulations should be implemented even in government run institutions and also in deemed universities/private universities. AICTE should bring another regulation to make sure the colleges invest 20 per cent of funds in future or emerging technology learning centre every year,” he said.

Adding that the revision of student-teacher ratio as 1:20 from 1:15 in engineering colleges by AICTE would give good revenue advantage for institutions, Mr Gandhi said that in turn the colleges need to invest in quality teaching faculty.