TECHNICAL EDUCATION GROWS
MANIFOLD OVER THE YEARS
Backgrounder
Technical education has grown manifold
in the country over the years. A number of initiatives have also
been taken to improve the quality of technical education including
upgradation of RECs, opening of national-level institutes, stress
on accreditation of institutes, the Technical Education Quality
Improvement Programme (TEQIP), providing institutes with electronic
resources, emphasis on R&D in top institutes, and opening
of an exclusive technology channel, Eklavya.
The present backgrounder gives some
data on the status of technical education in India and its growth
in recent years.
There are 1208 engineering colleges
in the country. This number has risen from 592 five years back
[1997-98]. Over one-third of the colleges are located in the southern
States, Tamil Nadu topping the list.
There are 1006 institutions in the
country that currently run
Master in Computer Applications [MCA] courses, with an
intake of 53,256 students.
Among top engineering institutions,
there are seven Indian Institutes of Technology [IITs] at Chennai,
Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Mumbai and Roorkee; and fourteen
National Institutes of Technology [NITs]. The NITs have been created
by upgrading Regional Engineering Colleges [RECs]. These are located
at Allahabad, Bhopal, Calicut, Hamirpur, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Jamshedpur,
Kurukshetra, Nagpur, Rourkela, Silchar, Surat, Surathkal and Warangal.
The Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore; Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad;
Indian Institute of Information Technology
and Management, Gwalior; and Indian Institute of Mines, Dhanbad
are some other prestigious institutions. In the area of management,
the Indian Institutes of Management [IIMs] at Ahmedabad,
Bangalore, Indore, Kolkata, Lucknow and Kozhikode figure among
top institutions.
The country has 1197 diploma level
engineering institutions with enrolment capacity of 2,42,698.
There are 675 community polytechnics out of which 111 are
women’s polytechnics. These are wings of normal polytechnics
for community development through application of science and technology.
Here too, the southern region is on top with 243 such polytechnics.
With rise in the number of institutions,
upgradation of facilities and expansion into emerging areas, the
intake capacity of degree level engineering institutions
has risen from about 1.3 lakh five years back to nearly 3.6 lakh
now. Tamil Nadu’s intake capacity in AICTE-recognised degree engineering
programmes in March this year stood at 79,122 followed by Andhra
Pradesh’s at 64,300; Maharashtra’s
at 47,035; Karnataka’s at 40,385; Uttar Pradesh’s at 22,491; Kerala’s
at 17,858; Madhya Pradesh’s at 12,970 and West Bengal’s at 10,709.
