If all the applications are approved, number-wise, this would mean 7,200 more BE seats; and the total number of autonomous engineering colleges in the State climbing to 36. Presently, there are 55,038 engineering seats spread across 138 colleges in the State.
However, there are still some procedures that need to be completed before the new colleges get approval.
According to sources in the Visvevaraya Technological University (VTU), all the 30 colleges have been granted Letter of Intent. Next, inspection teams - formally known as the Local Inspection Committees (LIC) - from the VTU will visit the colleges to check whether the infrastructure requirements are met.
This process is likely to be completed by the end of February - and then the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will come into the picture. The colleges will have to meet all infrastructure and faculty specifications of the Council. Once approved, the AICTE will grant them Letter of Approval. What students would be looking forward to is whether these seats can be added to the seat matrix for 2008. “If the colleges are approved by AICTE by April-end or even in May, they can be included in the initial round of the seat selection process,” officials in the Higher Education Department said.  Electronics and Telecommunication, Computer Science, Information Science are the streams that may be offered by the new colleges.
Among the new colleges which have applied for approval, 17 are in the Bangalore region, seven from Mysore region and three each in Belgaum and Gulbarga.
Meanwhile,  24 colleges have applied for permanent affiliation with the VTU, a pre-requisite for autonomy.
Getting autonomy, however, is relatively tough. Colleges with permanent affiliation are classified into three categories - A, B and C. Only A and B category colleges which have more than 80 per cent of their courses permanently affiliated, can apply.
VTU has already granted autonomy to 12 engineering colleges last year. Autonomy means that colleges have freedom to determine and prescribe their own syllabi and courses of study and evolve independent methods for assessing students’ performance. Besides, the colleges can conduct examinations and notify results.
However, CET aspirants need not fret. The admission for government quota of seats for under-graduate programmes even in autonomous colleges will be made by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), the nodal agency that conducts the CET.


HIGHLIGHTS

*30 new engineering colleges apply for approval; 7,200 seats in the offing.
*24 colleges apply for permanent affiliation, a pre-requisite for autonomy.
* New seats can be offered this year, if approved by May end.
* IT, Computer Science, Electronics and Telecommunication streams sought.