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With admissions to engineering colleges being delayed due to the ongoing strikes against bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the management of private colleges fear students may leave to other states to seek admission.
These colleges estimate around 35-45 per cent or 150,000 seats may remain vacant for the academic year 2013-14. The state has a capacity to admit more than 300,000 students. This year, 200,000 qualified the Eamcet.
Troubled by admission delays, till now 15,000 Intermediate students have left the state to join private-run and deemed engineering colleges in the neighbouring states, according to an official of the Intermediate Board.
Speaking to Business Standard, NLN Reddy, placements officer of city-based CBIT college, said, “This year 110 colleges teaching MBA and MCA had applied for closure, while there were no engineering colleges on the list.”
He also said some colleges in the neighbouring districts of Hyderabad may just see 100 or 50 admissions. The state despite having around 700 colleges, over the last two years, has been witnessing huge student migration.
According to some private college sources, the migrating students target states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and may even apply in countries like the US, Germany and Australia. Tamil Nadu-based SRM College and Vellore Institute of Technology, Manipal University and Mewar University have been witnessing huge student inflow from the state.
Sources in the AP State Higher Education Council, the nodal agency for engineering admissions, said due to delay in admission and falling standards of education nearly 250 colleges reported less than 100 admissions last year.
Blaming the state’s policies for the current situation, NLN Reddy said: “When it comes to technical institutes there are a slew of regulations at multiple levels, both from the Centre and the state through AICTE, UGC, State Technical Education Board, resulting in no level-playing field for market forces.”
After a delayed start on August 19, the initial candidate certificate verification process has further been hit by the boycott of work by Seemandhra staff belonging to government polytechnic colleges here.
The state has opened 34 authorised polytechnic verification centres in Seemandhra and 22 in Telangana.
To deal with student woes, the government has allowed Eamcet-qualified candidates to register verification process anywhere in the state by September 1.
The original schedule said students will have to opt for web options by September 3, change of options on September 4, followed by seat allotment.
