After slump, AICTE data shows uptick in BTech seats: 2024-25 records 8-year high

The caller precocious comes aft the intake saw a year-on-year diminution for astir of the past decade, from astir 17.05 lakh seats successful 2014-15. The 2022-23 world twelvemonth marked the archetypal summation successful a decade, with a humble emergence of a small nether 2%, followed by a 5% hike the pursuing twelvemonth (see chart).

For 2024-25, intake has surged by 10%, adding implicit 1.4 lakh seats from 13.5 lakh the erstwhile year. The latest number, however, is inactive little than the intake crossed the archetypal 3 years of the decline: 17.05 lakh (2014-15), 16.30 lakh (2015-16) and 15.56 lakh (2016-17).

According to AICTE data, of the summation successful seats this year, the largest chunk oregon much than 50% comes from 3 confederate states: Tamil Nadu (32,856), Andhra Pradesh (23,518) and Telangana (20,213).

The approved intake successful Tamil Nadu, which was 2,75,830 seats past year, present stands astatine 3,08,686 — the maximum for a authorities overall. Andhra Pradesh had an approved intake of 1,60,014 seats past year, which has accrued to 1,83,532 this year, coming adjacent aft TN overall. And Telangana’s fig past twelvemonth of 1,25,344 seats roseate to 1,45,557.

AICTE Member Secretary Rajive Kumar attributed the wide summation successful numbers to 2 factors: approvals granted for engineering and exertion courses for moving professionals, and the removal successful 2023-24 of an embargo connected adding caller seats successful BTech programmes.

“The programme for moving professionals was introduced for the archetypal clip (in 2023-24). These are supernumerary seats. With this, the fig of seats has gone up by astir 40,000 to 50,000, and astir 400 to 500 institutions person been fixed support for this programme. These institutions person started taking admissions,” Kumar said.

The full fig of approved institutions for undergraduate engineering courses this twelvemonth is 2,906. Kumar said that 1,256 institutions person been approved for an summation successful intake this year, including the approvals for moving professionals’ courses, adding that the summation successful intake was mostly for courses successful the machine domain.

The programme is meant for those moving successful organisations, industries oregon MSMEs located wrong a 50-km radius of the institute, and person a minimum of a year’s full-time enactment experience. These are meant for UG, PG and diploma courses, and tin assistance those who whitethorn privation to implicit their courses aft they person begun working, Kumar said.

Starting successful 2023-24, AICTE besides lifted the precocious bounds antecedently imposed connected spot numbers successful existing engineering colleges. This determination followed a reappraisal by an AICTE-appointed committee, which recommended lifting the headdress aft noting an encouraging summation successful admissions for halfway engineering branches successful 2022-23. The occupancy of BTech seats successful that world twelvemonth was 81% compared to 71% successful 2021-22.

“This (the lifting of the spot cap) is taxable to the fulfillment of infrastructure availability, its readiness and filled module position. Before assistance of support to the summation successful intake sought by the institution, the assembly shall ascertain the infrastructure and module availability,” AICTE’s support process handbook for 2024-25 to 2026-27 said.

Kumar said, “Up to 420 seats, we person granted support connected self-declaration ground (an institute tin use for an summation successful intake by providing a self-declaration connected facilities available). If the requested intake is to beryllium much than 420 seats, we person visited the institutes virtually, and past accepted oregon denied the request, based connected availability of infrastructure, faculty, laboratories. Earlier, this fig utilized to beryllium 360 seats.”

The 7 years of consolidation successful engineering intake and closures of institutes from 2014-15 to 2021-22 was seen arsenic a marketplace effect to reduced request forcing colleges to unopen down.

In December 2017, an probe by The Indian Express showed determination were nary takers for 51 per cent of 15.5 lakh undergraduate seats successful 3,291 engineering colleges successful 2016-17.

The probe recovered glaring gaps successful regulation, including alleged corruption; a vicious ellipse of mediocre infrastructure, labs and faculty; non-existent linkages with industry; and the lack of a method ecosystem to nurture the classroom. All this, it found, accounted for debased employability of graduates.

A fewer weeks later, AICTE announced its determination to trim intake successful courses with mediocre admissions by half, starting world twelvemonth 2018-19.

In 2019, it announced a two-year moratorium connected caller institutes and caller seats. However, determination were a fewer exceptions to the ban. Existing engineering institutes were allowed to commencement caller programmes successful caller technologies oregon person existent capableness successful accepted engineering branches to emerging caller exertion areas specified arsenic artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, quantum computing, information sciences, cyber information and 3D printing.