Telangana government deals major blow to engineering colleges

Government directs JNTU-Hyderabad not to give no objection certificate for deemed to university status, autonomous status, seats enhancement and courses merger, until further orders

Hyderabad: In a major blow to private engineering colleges, the Telangana Congress government directed the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU)- Hyderabad not to issue no objection certificate (NoC) to colleges seeking merger of courses, starting new courses or additional seats, autonomous and deemed to be university status, until further orders.

The government also asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to withhold all autonomous status and deemed to be universities status conferred upon colleges in the State.

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According to senior official, six private engineering colleges sought NoC from the JNTU-Hyderabad for the deemed university status. However, the university has not extended approval.

The move comes as the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) recently invited applications from the technical institutions for setting up new institutions and extension for approval for existing institutions and seats. The colleges require a NoC from the university to seek for new courses and seats, merger of courses, and additional intake besides autonomous and deemed to be university status from the regulatory bodies.

For the last few years, the private engineering colleges have converted a large number of seats in core engineering programmes- Mechanical, Civil and Electrical – into CSE and allied programmes. The issue had become alarming that JNTU-Hyderabad wrote to AICTE seeking cancellation of 20,000 additional seats in CSE and allied programmes granted during the academic year 2024-25.

The government move was aimed at maintaining status-quo and improving the quality of engineering education in the State, the senior official added.