Engineering institutes in India offer four-year degree programmes as well as three-year diploma courses.
Institutes accredited by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have doubled in the past five years to over 3,000. The seats at these institutes have increased from 0.5 million to 1.1 million.
The competition for admission to the top ranked colleges is intense. The intake of students through the IIT Joint Entrance Examination (IITJEE) and All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) is as low as 2 and 3 per cent respectively.
This competition, however, tapers off beyond the IITs, National Institutes of Technology and a few other colleges of repute.
The space is over-supplied with information technology and computer science programmes. About 1,000 institutes have reportedly requested the AICTE to close their IT/computer science courses.
In the near future, many private institutes will have to close down due to the inability to attract students and lack of qualified faculty.
