Over 1.11 lakh seats have remained vacant in engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu this academic year. The number is slightly lower than last year, when it was 1.26 lakh.
The All India Council for Technical Education had permitted two more self-financing, or SF, colleges to admit students for the academic year 2017-18, bringing the total number of such institutions to 556. The largest number of vacancies was in self-financing colleges and Anna University’s constituent colleges. The SF institutions managed to fill only 57 per cent of the seats offered to them and in constituent colleges, of the 8,560 seats, only 6,763 were filled.
According to industry experts, In 2017-18, as many as 110 self-financing colleges registered less than 30 per cent admission, and in around 20 colleges, less than 10 students were admitted. The number could be slightly more for institutions with less than 100 students. Though the All India Council for Technical Education has permitted closure of institutions with less than 30 per cent of admission for three consecutive years, college owners are reticent. The vacancies are more due to supply exceeding demand. Preference for deemed universities and autonomous colleges were edging out colleges affiliated to Anna University.
A senior officials at the Consortium of Self-Financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu said, Only when the AICTE releases the data after February 5, the deadline for the submission of the details, will information about the number of colleges for the next academic year be available.