Kerala's Higher Education Minister, R Bindu, said on October 26 that conventional engineering studies have hit saturation point, leading to unemployment among graduates. This has pushed many towards other disciplines and trades, she said, while replying to a question in the Assembly. 

The Minister added that the situation has worsened because of the sharp decline in academic quality, which, she said, is due to the unchecked proliferation of self-financed colleges. While government and aided colleges mostly have qualified teachers who satisfy the norms laid down by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), there have been complaints regarding some self-financed engineering colleges, Dr Bindu said.

She said that such inadequacies would be scrutinised by the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) academic council as well as through an academic audit. Dr Bindu said that KTU is currently focused on introducing new-generation and job-oriented courses to boost employment possibilities. 

The Minister added that research activities, with social relevance, are also being encouraged in government engineering colleges. The Rural Technology Development Centre at Government Engineering College (GEC), Kannur, the Reusable Building Systems at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Kottayam, the Centre for Bamboo Technology at GEC Barton Hill, and the Transportation Research Centre at College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET) are some centres that have been focusing on such initiatives.