Telangana may slash UG seats

​Hyderabad: It is a case of supply exceeding demand by a huge margin when it comes to higher education sector, particularly under-graduate studies in Telangana. The number of UG seats in conventional degree courses as well as professional courses like engineering and pharmacy is very high compared to number of students passing out of senior Intermediate in Telangana.

Hence it is no surprise that a large number of seats are left unfilled, year after year, in several colleges offering different type of UG courses. In 2017-18, the number of students passing senior Intermediate was nearly 3.1 lakh.

Compare with this number of seats at UG level-4.1 lakh in conventional three-year degree courses and 90,000 seats in engineering. Medicine, dental, ayurveda, homeopathy, pharmacy, veterinary, horticulture, agriculture and other courses put together also make a considerable number.

Not all students completing Intermediate education enroll for UG study. Some students from poor financial backgrounds prefer to get into jobs and try to assist their parents in family responsibilities. Students, especially in rural areas, either halt their study or pursue UG through distance education format. Some students join polytechnic diploma courses for which Intermediate is the qualification.

If these numbers are deducted from the passed out 3.1 lakh, then it can be assumed that UG seats availability (conventional degree, engineering, is almost twice the number of passed out students. Seats availability for medicine, dental, agriculture courses is limited and hence there will be no big problem as far as filling of seats is concerned.

TSCHE (Telangana State Council for Higher Education) chairman T Papi Reddy said that there is a need to cut down on degree colleges by at least 30 per cent of the present number, which is just over one thousand.
“We will assess the situation like how many seats were filled, colleges that witnessed less admissions, what courses were in demand and which all courses were ignored, after completion of DOST - the online admission process for filling seats in degree colleges in the state,” he said.

UGC member and former OU professor G Gopal Reddy observes surplus situation was due to mushrooming of colleges in the past, when permissions were given at will. He gave few suggestions to address the problem. “The government should focus on higher enrolment at Intermediate level ensuring students passing SSC continue their studies.

Also, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at higher education, which is just 25 per cent has to be improved by encouraging Intermediate passed students to do graduation, regular, distance or online,” he said.