54,618 new seats approved by AICTE, engineering seats drop by 2.2 lakhs

BENGALURU: In the country, for the year 2019-20, 174 new engineering institutions are offering 54,618 new seats across diploma, undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses which have been approved by The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). In the state of Karnataka, ten new engineering and three diploma colleges have been approved and a total intake of 11,418 has been sanctioned.

In 2018-19, the number stood at 27.1 lakh in 2018-19 and has further dipped to 24.9 lakh for 2019-20.

As per the sources in AICTE, the intake especially for mechanical and civil streams, over the years has reduced which has forced institutions to withdraw some of the courses. Overall, across the country, 178 institutions have been closed, which has decreased the intake by around 41,000 seats.

As many UG engineering seats are remaining vacant in Karnataka, a flashing 10,638 new UG and PG seats have been sanctioned for the state. The previous year, about 21,000 undergraduate engineering seats didn't have any takers in Karnataka.

The shutters have been dropping down, due to one diploma college with 300 seats and three engineering colleges with 1,674 seats in the state.

Karnataka shares 27% of the 39,198 new UG and PG seats in the entire country. 780 new seats have been availed in the state through three diploma/polytechnic colleges.

According to the sources, few years ago, the reduction in intake annually used to be 50,000-60,000. As few streams have no takers the number is in lakhs.