In 2015, MGU will not approve new engineering colleges

All courses in the State to come under KTU

New engineering colleges under the geographical jurisdiction of Mahatma Gandhi University will have to affiliate themselves to the Kerala Technological University (KTU) from the new academic year.

The varsity has decided not to approve new engineering colleges and courses from the academic year 2015-16 ahead of the KTU’s move to bring all engineering colleges in the State under its ambit.

Confirming the development, Vice Chancellor Prof. Babu Sebastian told

The Hindu that the varsity’s rules and regulations to provide affiliation to engineering colleges under its jurisdiction had become irrelevant, with the Kerala Technological University Act becoming a reality in March last year.

“We had received applications for starting new colleges and courses for the academic year 2015-16. But the varsity will not be considering it as these institutions need to affiliate with KTU from now onwards,” he said.

The Vice Chancellor pointed out that the varsity would continue to administer the conduct of examinations and publication of results of students who got admitted in its existing affiliated engineering colleges in the academic year 2014-15. Asked about the financial impact of the latest move, Prof. Babu Sebastian said it would make a dent on the varsity coffers. There would be no big revenue loss for the varsity, he said.

As per the official records, Mahatma Gandhi University has eight affiliated engineering colleges in Kottayam. In Ernakulam, there are 27 affiliated engineering colleges recognised by the varsity followed by four each in Pathanamthitta and Idukki.

The varsity had collected Rs. 10 lakh each as affiliation fee from engineering colleges in the government/aided and unaided sectors.

The fee for affiliation of undergraduate engineering courses is Rs. 5,000 for institutions under the government/aided sectors while the fee for unaided courses is Rs. 20,000.

For postgraduate engineering programmes, the course affiliation fee is Rs. 10,000 (government/aided) and Rs. 50,000 for unaided colleges.