Friday, March 29, 2024

Campus Buzz

PUCA says don’t close Engg Colleges, start alternative courses

November 25, 2018 07:12 PM

MOHALI: Punjab Unaided Colleges Association (PUCA) urged Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) & All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi not to let the Engineering Colleges in the Country shut down.

PUCA said that colleges with poor engineering admission should be allowed to start new courses that have a higher demand in the respective areas.

It is to be mentioned that AICTE has started issuing the show cause notices to the Colleges having less than 30% admissions in last 5 years and have asked them to explain how they are running and Managing their Batches and Finance with less number of admissions.  

Since the past three years, about 40% engineering seats have remained vacant across the country. These colleges should not be shut down as only 6% students in the country were graduates and access to education at this level could be improved.  

Dr. Anshu Kataria, President, PUCA said that the gross enrolment ratio in India is very poor. Of 14 crore children eligible for higher education in the 18 to 21 age bracket across the country, only 3.6 crore children enrol. Essentially, only 25% students take up higher education hence there is a need to improve the percentage. Commenting on this scenario Kataria further added that AICTE itself should not force the Colleges with less number of admissions to close down.

Sh Amit Sharma, Senior Vice President, PUCA said that colleges unable to fill the seats and running into losses should instead look at what was in demand in their region. “There is a reasonable demand for graduate courses in arts, science and commerce and, with the available infrastructure, it would make more sense for them to start such courses instead of completely shutting down, ” said Amit Sharma.

S. Gurfateh Singh Gill, Vice President, PUCA said that as many as 200 engineering colleges have applied to shut down this year. According to the reports the numbers of engineering seats were reducing by 80, 000 each year due to lack of demand.

Have something to say? Post your comment