Faulty engineering in state

KOCHI: With a sudden increase in the number of vacant seats for BTech, the    state government nod for opening new self-financing colleges in the state  has come under the scanner. Last year, the number of vacant seats reported from 83 self-financing  colleges was 3,000. This year, the number of colleges has risen to 102 and  the number of vacancies too have gone up. According to the Self-financing Engineering Colleges Association, over 5,280  seats are reported to be vacant in 52 colleges after the results of the   entrance examination for the remaining BTech seats held by the Admission Supervisory Committee for Professional Colleges came out on Thursday. Only 1,600 candidates took the exam. The number may come to around 10,000  when the vacant seats in the remaining colleges are taken into account, said  Self-Financing Engineering Colleges Association general secretary T A Vijayan. “A large number of seats are vacant owing to the delay in the admission  procedures. The increase in the number of colleges is another reason,” said  Vijayan.“Of the one lakh students who wrote the entrance examination, 66,000  qualified. Though the rank list was published on July 6, the procedures took   long as the Plus-Two marks had to be added to the marks obtained in the  entrance examination. So, most of the students either joined BTech in other states or took up other degree courses. If the admission procedure was over by July, the students who wished to study BTech here wouldn’t have left for  Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh,” he said.“Now we can’t do anything about the seats. We will meet the Chief Minister  and request him to reduce the number of government seats from the 50:50 ratio and to complete the admission procedures by July,” said T A Vijayan. The office of the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations had other reasons   too. “The delay was caused after new colleges were sanctioned at the last minute, when the allotment was going on,” said Entrance Examination  Commissioner B S Mavoji. As to whether there is a need for more colleges, he  said, “Who has to decide? If the government denies NOC to those wishing to start colleges, they will move court.” The AICTE sanctions new colleges after the state gives nod and the stipulations are met, he said. Seats are available for a much lower price in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where a large number of them are vacant, said some officials.On whether there was a need for more colleges in the state, Latha J, director of Technical Education, said, “The admissions will be over by   October 31 and after we get a list of the total number of vacant seats, we will send a report to the government after which the government can decide whether there is a need for more colleges or not.”  But, Federation of Association of Private Unaided Professional Colleges national president G P C Nayar said the number of students aspiring to be engineers will increase by the year and more colleges are necessary to cater to their needs.