Evening colleges make a comeback

These colleges were a common sight in the 1980s and 1990s that enabled several professionals to pursue courses including engineering, law and management among others.

Hyderabad: Evening colleges, once popular in 1980’s and 1990’s, are making a significant comeback in the State. More engineering colleges will be rolling out undergraduate engineering programmes for working professionals with evening classes from the forthcoming academic year.

The evening colleges are set to breathe a new life into an old concept and make it easy for working professionals to balance between their professional life and educational aspirations, and step up the career ladder.

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These colleges were a common sight in the 1980s and 1990s that enabled several professionals to pursue courses including engineering, law and management among others.

However, over a period of time, as demand dwindled, the colleges shifted their approach towards a day-time-centric approach. With rapid technological advancements, there has been a huge demand for upskilling and reskilling of the workforce in the country.

This prompted the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to come up with engineering programmes for working professionals last year.

Twelve engineering colleges in the State have been permitted by the AICTE to offer engineering courses for working professionals during the academic year 2023-24. While Osmania University College of Engineering (OUCE) commenced courses, 11 colleges did not receive a nod from the State government.

“The colleges, which received approval last time, sought renewal and there may be new institutions that will offer undergraduate engineering programmes for working professionals. A list of approved institutions from the AICTE is expected shortly,” said an official.

In addition to Civil, Mechanical and AI & ML engineering programmes, the OUCE will be offering Electrical and Electronics engineering from this year.