M.Tech seats to be slashed further in Telangana

Hyderabad: Are M.Tech courses in private engineering colleges losing its sheen? Going by the number of seats that have been slashed over the last three years, it certainly indicates the lack of interest among students to pursue such courses.

While there were about 15,000 M.Tech seats in 2016, it has come down to 5,400 in 2017. Further, in the next academic year, a minimum of at least 1,400 seats are expected to be slashed by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University-Hyderabad.

Managements of 28 private engineering colleges have already approached the university to undo 77 M.Tech courses for the next academic year. This comes in wake of strict rules and regulations being implemented by the university to bring in quality in engineering education in the State.

The university made PhD degree mandatory for teaching MTech students besides implementing biometric systems to capture attendance of the faculty members and students. This new system weeded out bogus faculty.

“In the absence of biometric attendance, students used to join the colleges and work without attending the classes. Now, after the introduction of the system, those students who are really interested are pursuing the course,” a senior JNTU-H official said.

This apart, 11 private engineering college managements applied to JNTU-H for shutting down and eight colleges have applied for closure of 11 B.Tech courses. Most of the colleges which applied for closure were in Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda and Khammam districts.

Similarly, the varsity received applications for closure of seven M.Pharmacy courses from four private pharmacy colleges. Further, three MCA colleges and one MBA colleges sought closure of courses.

About 266 private engineering colleges out of 272 submitted their applications seeking a grant of affiliation from the JNTU-H for the next academic year.

The university has already deputed its fact-finding committee for inspection of the private colleges to grant affiliation for the next academic year. The varsity intends to release the list of affiliated colleges by May 5.