Govt. to bring in regulations to cap intake of computer science and related engineering courses

The State government is planning to bring in regulations to put a cap on the intake of computer science and related engineering courses from the academic year 2026-27.

While releasing the ‘CET Guide’ on Friday, Minister for Higher Education M.C. Sudhakar said that the Department of Higher Education would form a one-man committee to study and submit the report.

“We are planning to rationalise the intake in computer science and related streams. The freeze on computer science and related engineering streams seats will be implemented from CET-2026, and we will constitute a committee to set guidelines soon,” he added.

Sharing more details, the Minister said that only new streams related to computer science would be entertained. “We are planning to bring in regulations on the model of the Telangana government to cap computer science and related engineering courses seats. If we receive requests for some new and emerging streams, like Quantum Computing and others, they will be considered. However, any other existing computer science and related streams seats will not be enhanced. This rule will be applicable to all government, private engineering colleges under Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) and private universities of the State,” he added.

As Deemed-To-be Universities fall under the purview of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the government cannot impose regulation on them, he added.

“Everyone knows that what was the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) reply when I wrote them requesting to streamline computer science seats in 2023. Now, we are taking action following the court orders in Telangana government’s decision in the same issue,” Dr. Sudhakar said.

“During CET-2025, of the total 1.53 lakh engineering seats available, around 99,000 were computer science and related courses. This year, we have completed the entire seat allotment process and over 15,000 engineering seats left unfilled, of which 9,000 seats were again related to computer science and related streams,” Dr. Sudhakar said.