<p>Bengaluru: Despite engineering admissions losing demand, with vacant seats increasing every year, the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has received 10 applications from private managements to start new colleges for the 2026-27 academic year.</p>.<p>Of the ten applications, six are from Bengaluru, one each from Doddaballapur in Bengaluru Rural, Chikkodi in Belagavi, Hubballi and Vijayapura. Each college has sought an intake of 120 seats.</p>.<p>Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudhakar said he was surprised by the applications.</p>.Engineering branches: What’s in demand?.<p>“I do not know why people are setting up new engineering colleges. I was surprised to know that even this year there are some applications before the VTU,” he said.</p>.<p>“Every year several private engineering colleges are surrendering seats to the Karnataka Examinations Authority as they were unable to fill the seats on their own,” he added.</p>.<p>Though admissions have fallen and seats remain vacant, Karnataka has seen 25 new engineering colleges open in the last five years, with only one shutting down.</p>.<p>VTU Vice Chancellor Vidyashankar S called this a positive trend. “When the industry is talking about job threats due to Artificial Intelligence, the number of new colleges coming up shows a positive sign,” he said. “In the last four years we used to get four to five applications to set up new colleges, but this year the number has doubled. This clearly says that we need engineers, with updated skills and knowledge for current industry demands,” he added.</p>.<p>In 2025, over 15,000 engineering seats went vacant, of which 9,000 were from Computer Science and allied subjects.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Despite engineering admissions losing demand, with vacant seats increasing every year, the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has received 10 applications from private managements to start new colleges for the 2026-27 academic year.</p>.<p>Of the ten applications, six are from Bengaluru, one each from Doddaballapur in Bengaluru Rural, Chikkodi in Belagavi, Hubballi and Vijayapura. Each college has sought an intake of 120 seats.</p>.<p>Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudhakar said he was surprised by the applications.</p>.Engineering branches: What’s in demand?.<p>“I do not know why people are setting up new engineering colleges. I was surprised to know that even this year there are some applications before the VTU,” he said.</p>.<p>“Every year several private engineering colleges are surrendering seats to the Karnataka Examinations Authority as they were unable to fill the seats on their own,” he added.</p>.<p>Though admissions have fallen and seats remain vacant, Karnataka has seen 25 new engineering colleges open in the last five years, with only one shutting down.</p>.<p>VTU Vice Chancellor Vidyashankar S called this a positive trend. “When the industry is talking about job threats due to Artificial Intelligence, the number of new colleges coming up shows a positive sign,” he said. “In the last four years we used to get four to five applications to set up new colleges, but this year the number has doubled. This clearly says that we need engineers, with updated skills and knowledge for current industry demands,” he added.</p>.<p>In 2025, over 15,000 engineering seats went vacant, of which 9,000 were from Computer Science and allied subjects.</p>
