“In Andhra Pradesh, the number of (engineering) colleges is more and students are less,” notes S.H. Rajendra Prasad, Secretary of Sri Sai College of Engineering and Technology (SSCET), Anantapur. It has the maximum number of engineering colleges with 338,000 seats. But now, scores of private colleges from tier two and three cities of the state has applied to AICTE for closure that has retained their power to close or open colleges after the Supreme Court decision.

50 percent of the seats remain vacant every year and colleges are facing huge loss. Many of them are scraping the edge off with the fee reimbursement from the government. Reasons for the folding up of colleges are many. Primarily they are attributed to the inability to attract students, lack of qualified faculty, inability to maintain AICTE standards and inability of these institutions to pay the salaries.

Shankar S. Mantha, Chairman of the AICTE points out another reason, “Many students are opting for the B Tech program than a MCA course, which requires more years of study. Students do not find the MCA programme very relevant."

B S. Yadav, Spokesperson for the Association of Professional and Technical Institutes in Madhya Pradesh notes, “Every year IITs and NITs are increasing their intakes and seats which have attracted a good number of students. State engineering colleges are now mostly left with a bunch of students who are not the best.”

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