The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has announced the progressive closure of 58 engineering and technical colleges across India during the 2025-26 academic year. The decision has been taken due to multiple reasons, including low student enrolment and failure to meet the council's prescribed academic and infrastructure standards.
The closures may concern students and parents, but AICTE has clarified that students already enrolled in these institutions will be allowed to complete their degree programmes without disruption.
According to AICTE, the 58 institutions have been granted progressive closure, which means they will not admit first-year students for the academic year in which the closure has been approved. However, the colleges will continue operating for existing batches until the currently enrolled students complete their courses.
An AICTE official said that progressive closure is different from complete closure. Under this process, institutions stop fresh admissions but continue academic activities for enrolled students to ensure their education is not affected.
In addition to the institute closures, more than 950 engineering and technical courses offered across the country were also discontinued during the same academic year.
Among all states, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra reported the highest number of engineering college closures, with 12 institutions each. Madhya Pradesh followed with eight closures, while Telangana and Punjab recorded four colleges each.
The data further shows that Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan witnessed three closures each. Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal reported two closures each, while Puducherry had one institution shut down.
Out of the total 58 colleges, three were government-aided institutions, while the remaining were privately managed colleges.
AICTE, the national regulator responsible for maintaining quality in technical education, allows closures when institutions fail to meet its required standards. The council reviews colleges based on several parameters before granting approval for continued operations.
Engineering colleges may face closure due to low student admissions, shortage of qualified faculty members, non-compliance with infrastructure requirements, or failure to follow other operational and academic norms prescribed by the regulator.
AICTE also distinguishes between progressive closure and complete closure. In a complete closure, academic programmes are discontinued entirely, and affected students are shifted to other institutions. In contrast, progressive closure protects the interests of existing students by allowing them to finish their education in the same college.