Progressive closure means no cannot admit students for the initial year, of the academic session. However, the existing students will continue until their course completes and the degree will be treated valid.
According to the official statistics, over 69000 seats have been reduced in 762 colleges. This is due to a reduction in the intake or closure of a particular course.
Nearly 180 professional colleges, including engineering and medical colleges, have been shut down this academic year. The record marked the highest number of institutes’ closure in the last nine years. The report of All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) revealed.
Besides the closure of 179 colleges, around 134 institutes did not ask for approval this year. Due to a large number of seats vacant over the past 5 years, the institutes are bound to shut down.
Also, at least 44 institutions’ could not able to receive approval. Because of the punitive action by the technical educator regulator.
While 92 technical associations had to close down in the 2019-20 academic session, the figures were 89 (2018-19), 134 (2017-18), 163 (2016-17), 126 (2015-16), and 77 (2014-15).
This year, a total of 1.09 lakh seats approved by AICTE have been reduced to pharmacy and architecture institutions.
As per current Supreme Court judgment, for the functioning of existing and setting up of new Architecture and Pharmacy colleges, approval of only ‘Council of Architecture’ and ‘Pharmacy Council of India’ respectively will be compulsory from the academic Year 2020-2021, a senior AICTE official asserted.
As a result, the approval of AICTE has been made non-mandatory. Thereafter, many of these colleges have withdrawn their affiliation & approval from AICTE resulting in a bulk contraction of seats. Effectively, the seats of pharmacy and architecture have now been taken over by their respective regulatory bodies, he added.
Moreover, the strict scrutiny which begun physically at various regional offices was performed via an online procedure. This involved utilizing online video-conferencing for stakeholders to attach, verification of infrastructure, and campus facilities virtually and uploading digitally signed papers. Even though new Management and Polytechnic Engineering Institutes have added seats, there has been a contraction in AICTE approved Seats, the official indicated.
STUDENTS CAN OPT OUT FROM FINAL SEM EXAMS: DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION
The AICTE has also awarded approval to 164 new institutes for the 2020-21 academic season, summing to 39,000 seats.