300-odd private degree colleges stare at closure

Hyderabad: Closing educational institutions to improve standards seems to be the new mantra followed by the State. Nearly 300 degree colleges are going to be closed down by the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE), according to officials.

It may be recalled here that earlier closure and merger of educational institutions of schools and engineering institutions have been taken up under rationalisation process as the authorities have found that there is more number of institutions than required. “The supply is more than demand. This means the survival of the institutions is at stake and several of them are on the verge of going out of business,” said a senior official from the TSCHE.

Taking this in view, the Executive Council of the TSCHE decided to consult managements of about 300 and odd private degree colleges in its efforts to either close them down or merge them with nearby ones. The decision was taken in a bid to prevent colleges from luring students to join their colleges offering inducements. They include relief students from attending to colleges; all they have to do is to attend their examinations and get passed.

Out of nearly 1,000 degree colleges, a little over 300 degree colleges were identified with meager admissions with nearly 1.5 lakh seats remaining vacant during the academic year 2017-18. The council also pointed out that Mahatma Gandhi, Kakatiya, Satavahana, Telangana, Palamuru and Osmania universities had faced a similar problem of falling number of admissions during the same academic year.

It was against this background that the TSCHE wanted to implement the rationalisation scheme, to reduce the number of institutions, either by closure or merger. But, speaking to The Hans India, a senior official from the Higher Education department said there were around 2,000 and odd courses being offered through different bachelor degree programmes in the State. However, neither the TSCHE nor the universities are in a position to review the existing courses. Adding, either they (courses) need to be updated or new courses have to be introduced, linking them to various priorities like jobs, research, and entrepreneurship development and so on.

This is where the private universities and the Central universities are scoring and improving their admissions year after year. But, the universities are facing funds and staff crunch to come up with new courses. On the other hand, the TSCHE too was not focusing on the area to increase the admissions by revamping the existing courses, the official added. However, the EC meeting of the TSCHE held on Monday had decided not to permit any new courses, said the council’s Chairman Prof T Papi Reddy.