Bhubaneswar, May 14: The Gandhi Institute of Industrial Technology, Berhampur, has sent its application for closure to the technical education department.
Founded in 2008 and laid across 10 acres at Golanthara, the institute is affiliated to the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT), and offers 420 BTech seats in five streams.
A department official said the institution had stated "shortage of students" as the reason for closure.
This apart, at least 21 other technical institutions have decided to downsize operations from the coming academic session. These institutions have also sought scrapping of certain streams or decreasing their intake capacity in the branches that are losing popularity.
Moreover, the department authorities have received applications for the closure of 1,170 BTech seats, 72 MTech seats, and 250 seats in MBA and MCA disciplines.
Earlier this month, the International School of Business Management (ISBM), an autonomous institution located at Gangapada on the city outskirts, had applied for closure from the coming academic year. Against an intake capacity of 50 seats, the institute had attracted only eight students in 2013-14 and two in 2014-15.
A department official said the applications had been received and forwarded to the All-India Council for Technical Education, seeking its nod to close these institutions.
The state houses a total of 101 engineering colleges with around 45,000 seats. Last year, only 18,000 of these seats had been filled up after the first counselling session. Private engineering colleges said the downsizing had been anticipated because of consistent vacancies for the past three to four years.
However, the closure news has not gone down well with the professional college promoters. They put the blame on the state government for such fallout.
"At least five colleges have closed down within the past few years. The government should amend the Orissa Professional Education Act, 2007, to enable admissions of more students from outside the state for the sake of the institutions' survival," said Odisha Private Engineering College Association secretary Binod Dash.
At present, colleges can invite applications from students outside Odisha for only 8 per cent of the total seats.
"While the authorities have been allowing private universities to take students from outside, this is not applicable for colleges under the BPUT - which is unfortunate," said Dash.
