84 private universities face infrastructure, faculty problems: Government

NEW DELHI: Expert committees which visited about 84 private universities across the country have pointed out deficiencies in the infrastructure and availability of qualified faculty, the government said today.

"The UGC visiting expert committees and AICTE expert committees have pointed out some deficiencies in the infrastructure and availability of qualified faculty," HRD Minister Smriti Irani informed the Lok Sabha.

In a written reply, she said of the total of 184 private universities set up through state legislations, 127 were set up in the last five years alone.

She also informed that during the last three years, 242 private institutions were ordered to be closed down by AICTE for various reasons such as less demand from rural areas for admission and less demand for certain branches of engineering.

In a separate reply, the Minister said that in the coming three years, Government is planning to start 222 polytechnics under the sub-mission on polytechnics scheme.

With this, there will be additional enrollment of 1,19,880 students in polytechnic system of the country.

States which would be benefited from this are Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland, the Minister said.