Bhanu P Lohumi
Tribune News Service
Shimla, September 26
About 69 per cent of the seats sanctioned for admission in 402 courses run by private universities in HP remained unfilled in the 2020-21 session, the highest in engineering.
Only 8,604 of the 27,837 seats could be filled last year amid Covid, said Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission (HPPERC) Chairman Maj Gen Atul Kaushik (retd). The craze for engineering courses was diminishing nationwide and Himachal was no exception, he said.
Most in engineering
- Only 8,604 of 27,837 seats were filled in 2020-21 session
- The highest number of seats that remained unfilled were in engineering courses
- Regulator says the courses may be disapproved if the trend continues for 3 years
"The unfilled seats indicate the reluctance of students to take admission in private universities. Though the pandemic is also to be blamed, students seem to be preferring to study in universities outside the state," he said.
Some parents were averse to shell out more money for education in private universities when classes had to be conducted online. Moreover, the fake degree scam of Manav Bharti University, Solan, and the failure of some private universities to recruit eligible faculty had made students apprehensive, said an education expert.
The number of seats would be reduced if private universities failed to fill them and in case the trend continued for three years, the courses would be disapproved, maintained Kaushik.
Meanwhile, a tender of Rs 1 crore has been awarded to ITI Limited (Chandigarh) for an online management system to ensure real-time information exchange between the HPPERC and private universities. The system would keep the regulator updated about infrastructure, admissions, faculty, courses offered, student strength and financial status of institutions.
Courtesy: Tribune News Service