Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Technological University has started to strictly monitor the quality of education in engineering colleges in the state. It has taken action against 14 colleges where not a single student was admitted to 23 batches this year because there were no takers for the seats.
The KTU has decided not to allow admissions to these batches from the 2016-17 academic year onwards.
The KTU also plans to close down engineering colleges with less than 30 percent admissions this academic year.
Such colleges have been asked to shift students to other colleges. KTU Pro-Vice-Chancellor M. Abdu Rahman told DC that the university could not cancel the affiliation merely because large number of seats remained vacant in a college.
“We have asked the chairmen of the trusts which run these colleges to shift them to other colleges belonging to the same trust. Most of these trusts have more than one college,” Mr Rahman said.
Some of the trusts have agreed to comply with the KTU directions. Strong action will be taken if these engineering colleges do not improve their functioning, Mr Rahman said.
The KTU has not decided on the fate of 13 engineering colleges with less than 30 percent admissions and nine colleges with 30 to 39 percent admissions. Of the first category, one is a government-controlled self-financing college and 12 private self-financing colleges.
The KTU has also decided to conduct conferences with representatives of students of all 152 engineering colleges in the state to discuss the quality of the institutions.
One student each will be invited from a batch having 60 to interact with Vice-Chancellor Dr. Kuncheria P. Isaac.
The first interaction attended by students belonging to Thiruvananthapuram, Kollan and Alappuzha districts will be held at the diamond jubilee hall of College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, on September 19. Such meetings will be held in Kochi, Kottayam, Thrissur and Kozhikode.
