Private universities offering professional courses may face stronger competition this year as the Gujarat government plans to increase seats in government engineering and diploma colleges.
The education department is in the final stages of approving around 2,500 to 3,000 additional seats in undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma professional courses from the upcoming academic year. The expansion will also include the 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
According to sources, nearly 1,400 seats that remained frozen in government colleges over the past two years due to low admissions may be revived. Another 400 seats could be added in colleges and courses that saw less than 30% admissions during the last three admission cycles, along with an increase in diploma seats.
Gujarat has over 50 government and grant-in-aid colleges offering engineering degree and diploma programmes. At present, government colleges have around 11,000 degree engineering seats and 23,000 diploma seats.
Officials said many seats were frozen from the 2023-24 academic year as colleges in semi-urban and rural areas struggled to attract students. The government now plans to restart these seats by introducing emerging engineering branches along with popular streams like computer and IT engineering.
The proposal is expected to get final approval from senior education department officials within the next few days.
However, the move has also raised concerns over infrastructure and faculty shortages if admissions increase significantly.
Sources said government colleges may see high demand because annual fees are only around Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500, but several colleges still face shortages of teachers, hostel facilities and faculty with industry experience.
Meanwhile, the education department is restructuring seat allocations as the admission process moves ahead. Online registrations have already started, and the next phase of choice filling will begin soon.