New Delhi: More than 75 engineering and technical colleges in the country are preparing to shut down. These colleges have opted not to admit students from this academic session. Majority of the institutions are in Uttar Pradesh, officials said.

According to sources, a senior official of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) said that the major reasons behind the institutions opting for closure are less takers for the courses or colleges and shortage of funds.

So far, 78 technical colleges have opted for "progressive closure" this year, the officials at the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) said.

During the 2018-19 academic session, 54 colleges had chosen progressive closure, while the number of such colleges was at 106 during 2017-18.

"Colleges opting for progressive closure, stop admitting fresh students and continue to function till the time the existing students graduate. 31 of the colleges are based in Uttar Pradesh, while Punjab has six of these colleges," the senior official of the AICTE said.

"Among the colleges that will be shutting down, five each are based in Chhattisgarh and Haryana, while four each are in Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Two colleges each are in Rajasthan, Telangana, Odisha and Maharashtra," he said.

As per AICTE statistics, there are 264 engineering colleges that are operational in the country without approval from the council, while there are 116 architecture colleges functioning without the AICTE's nod.