Hyderabad, August 07:Clearing the decks for engineering counselling, the All-India Technical Education Council (AICTE) today sanctioned affiliation to 663 engineering colleges including 26 new colleges in the state. The list of engineering colleges which were sanctioned approval was handed over to the delegation of the technical education department in New Delhi today.
In addition to the existing 637 engineering colleges in the state, the AICTE sanctioned affiliation to 26 new colleges. Sources said that the number of seats in engineering colleges will increase by about 15,000 in addition to the existing 2.3 lakh seats. The AICTE is said to have made it clear that only 300 seats will be permitted in every new engineering college with a maximum limit of 420 seats for existing colleges.
Though the affiliations were scheduled for renewal about a month ago, there was a delay in sanctioning of affiliations to new colleges which in turn delayed the renewal of affiliations.
The officials of Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE) sent a delegation to facilitate the renewal of affiliation to the existing colleges to speed up the process.
Sources said that it will take another 10 days for the universities to inspect the colleges and sanction their affiliation.
The Eamcet officials stated that the process has been expedited and the counselling for admission into engineering colleges is likely to be conducted in the last week of August.
–Agencies