55% seats vacant, Punjab technical colleges move Supreme Court

55% seats vacant, Punjab technical colleges move Supreme Court

Chandigarh: With students from Punjab making a beeline for universities in Canada, UK, etc. to pursue various courses, nearly 55 per cent of the seats in state’s 300-odd technical colleges are going begging. In the last academic session, nearly 45 per cent seats had remained vacant after the October 30 cut-off date.

Owing to this trend, there has been a growing dependence among these colleges on students from states such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, North-East and even Nepal.

The situation has deteriorated further this academic year, with less than 25 per cent of the students from Punjab seeking admission to state colleges. The cut-off date for admissions was September 15. Of nearly one lakh seats in state’s technical colleges, around 55,000 in various courses are vacant. In colleges affiliated with IK Gujral Punjab Technical University, Kapurthala, nearly 40,000 seats of the total 80,000 have been filled till the cut-off date. Similarly, nearly 8,500 seats of the 24,000 have been filled in colleges affiliated with Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, Bathinda. Dr Anshu Kataria, president, Punjab Unaided Colleges Association, says they have moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of the cut-off date. Owing to varied reasons, many students from J&K, Bihar, HP and North-East could not secure seats in Punjab colleges by the cut-off date this year, he claims.

State’s two technical universities — IK Gujral Punjab Technical University and Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, Bathinda — hold admissions as per the guidelines of the All-India Council for Technical Education. A senior government functionary says while admissions in engineering colleges are regulated by the AICTE, those in polytechnics and ITIs are conducted by the Department of Technical Education and Industrial Training.

The courses that are witnessing fewer admissions include B.Tech, MBA, BCA, BBA, BHM, besides others. Shimanshu Gupta, president, Private ITI Association, says nearly 45% seats in private ITIs are lying vacant.

DPS Kharbanda, Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training, says admissions in private engineering colleges are governed by the AICTE through admission portal of the state’s two technical universities.

“But we are making efforts to ensure quality education is imparted and evaluation system is transparent and strict. We are making efforts to improve skills of students to provide employment opportunities here,” he says.