500 engineering colleges face shutdown

8220;We have about 500 engineering colleges in the state which do not fulfil this mandatory requirement infrastructure,faculty though they may be having good buildings. All such colleges should be closed down,8221; state Council of Higher Education Secretary,Christopher said.

People are happy about the mushrooming growth of engineering colleges in the state but are not concerned about the lack of quality in education,he said.

Governor E S L Narasimhan,in his capacity as Chancellor of the universities in the state,immediately directed that 8220;a committee be constituted to look into the lapses and make the management fall in line.8221;

Chief Minister K Rosaiah was also apprised of the situation,who at once directed the authorities concerned to 8220;act tough8221; and ensure that the college managements strictly complied with the set norms.

Accordingly,the state government constituted a committee,headed by Technical Education Commissioner K Lakshminarayana,to inspect the availability of infrastructure and faculty in the engineering colleges.

Quoting a NASSCOM study,Christopher said that Andhra Pradesh was producing only five to eight per cent of 8220;employable engineering graduates8221; every year as against the national average of 25 per cent.

Another reason that may cause the shutdown of more than 200 engineering colleges in the state would be due to serious dearth of students.

Of the 2.67 lakh engineering colleges in the state,over 95,000 still remain vacant at the end of phase-1 counselling.

About 2.60 lakh students qualified in the engineering,agriculture and medical Common Entrance Test CET this year but more than a lakh of them did not even attend the counselling process for admission into various colleges,the study has said.

In the convenor quota alone,filled through the counselling process,31,968 seats went abegging while there were no takers for those under the management quota,it said.

The strife over the demand for and against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh has left majority of the engineering colleges in the Telangana region high and dry as students prefer not to join them,given the violence being perpetrated by the pro-statehood agitators.

This resulted in a situation where,for the first time in many years,students from the state have opted for colleges in the neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu,the study said.

Interestingly,most of the colleges in the Andhra-Rayalaseema region have been able to attract good number of students this year.

8220;In coastal Andhra8217;s Prakasam district,a noted engineering college could manage an intake of only 30 per cent last year but this time it has already completed 70 per cent admissions,8221; a member of the Consortium of Engineering Colleges8217; Managements said.

In contrast,majority of the 200-odd engineering colleges around Hyderabad are struggling to get students despite offering 8220;discounts8221; in fee and other expenses.

8220;Besides,the uncertainty over the continuation of fee reimbursement scheme being implemented by the state government for the last two years has also forced many students from the backward families to give up their engineering dreams,8221; college managements say.

Experts in the field say it is high time the state government put in place a regulatory authority with adequate powers to ensure that the engineering colleges are strictly run according to norms,particularly in respect of faculty.