CHENNAI: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has allowed engineering colleges across the country to expand student intake over the past three academic years to widen access to technical education. However, educationists in Tamil Nadu have raised concerns over whether private self-financing colleges in the State have upgraded infrastructure and faculty in line with prescribed norms.
Several self-financing institutions have secured approval for extra seats in high-demand streams such as Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Information Technology, and Electronics and Communication Engineering.
While the increased seat matrix helps colleges boost admissions during counselling, educationists point out that adding seats mandates expanding classrooms, laboratories, libraries, hostels, and teaching staff to maintain required student-teacher ratios.
"An increase in intake must be matched by a corresponding upgrade in infrastructure and faculty. Otherwise, the quality of education suffers," said educationist R Ashwin.
Educationist D Nedunchezian alleged that Anna University, the affiliating body for private engineering colleges in the State, has failed to strictly enforce compliance. "If Anna University does not conduct proper inspections, it effectively encourages private colleges to bend rules," he said.
Insiders reveal that many institutions continue operating with existing facilities despite higher seat counts, resulting in overcrowded classrooms, ill-equipped labs, and overworked teachers. They warned that such deficiencies could compromise the quality of teaching, practical training and overall academic standards.
Experts also argued that approving higher intake is only one part of the regulatory process, while ensuring compliance with prescribed norms is equally important. Without effective monitoring, merely increasing student intake will not improve the quality of engineering education, they said.
An increase in intake must be matched by a corresponding upgrade in infrastructure and faculty. Otherwise, the quality of education suffersR Ashwin, educationist
Calling for stronger oversight, educationists urged AICTE to conduct regular physical inspections and periodic audits instead of relying primarily on self-declarations and documents submitted by institutions.
They also expressed concern that some colleges seek higher sanctioned intake mainly to improve their visibility during the admission process. Even if many of the additional seats remain vacant, a larger approved intake can make institutions appear more attractive to students during counselling.
They suggested that AICTE adopt stricter criteria before approving future intake increases by assessing existing infrastructure, faculty strength, student pass percentage and utilisation of previously sanctioned seats. They also recommended mandatory post-approval inspections and strict action, including withdrawal of excess sanctioned seats, against institutions that fail to comply with prescribed norms.
With engineering education undergoing rapid transformation driven by emerging technologies and evolving industry requirements, educationists stressed that quality should remain the primary focus. They said any increase in student intake must be supported by adequate infrastructure and qualified faculty to ensure students receive education that meets AICTE standards.