120 colleges set to close, 500 more to open in 2013-14

As many as 120 colleges including 94 management institutes from across the country will be closed in 2013-2014 because of not being able to fill the seats. On the other hand 500 new colleges will be opened in the same period. Vanita Srivastava reports.

As many as 120 colleges including 94 management institutes from across the country will be closed in 2013-2014 because of not being able to fill the seats.

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On the other hand 500 new colleges will be opened in the same period. These include 225 polytechnics.

Of the colleges that would be closed in 2013-14, a maximum number of 45, including 37 management institutes, are from Andhra Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh, 13 management institutes will be closed. There would be no closure of colleges in Bihar and Chhattisgarh.

In 2012-13, a total of 140 colleges had been closed while 570 new ones had been opened.

All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE) chairman SS Mantha said that they had received a total of 170 applications from educational institutes for closure this year.

“Majority of the institutes that are being closed are not able to get required number of students. Most of them are located in remote areas, possess poor infrastructural facilities and have practically zero interaction with industries,” Mantha added.

The number of colleges applying for closure has increased by nearly four times, Mantha said adding, “It is however not an alarming situation since the number of colleges applying for opening new colleges has also increased. This also reflects that the rate of enrollment is going up.”