Many private engineering colleges in India who made a lot of money by just printing out CS degrees for gullible students have closed their shops...

It’s a classic case of the "education bubble" finally popping. For nearly two decades, opening a private engineering college in India was seen as a guaranteed gold mine—often dubbed the "CS Degree Mill."

​The trend we are noticing is backed by some pretty stark data. Since the mid-2010s, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has overseen a massive "market correction."

​Why the "Shops" are Closing

​The decline wasn't just due to a lack of students, but a systemic failure in the business model of these institutions:

• ​The 30% Rule: The AICTE enacted a strict policy where colleges with less than 30% enrollment for five consecutive years face forced closure. This effectively weeded out the "ghost colleges" that existed only on paper.
• ​The Employability Gap: Industry reports (like those from Aspiring Minds) consistently pointed out that nearly 80% of Indian engineering graduates were unemployable in core technical roles. When companies stopped showing up for "Day 0" placements at Tier-3 colleges, the "gullible students" (and their parents) stopped signing up.
• ​Pivot to "Premium": High-quality private players and "Deemed Universities" (like BITS, VIT, or newer ones like Shiv Nadar and Bennett) consolidated the market. Smaller colleges that couldn't compete with their labs or placement cells simply couldn't survive.
• ​Phased Mergers: Many colleges aren't just "shutting down" but are being absorbed into larger private universities or converting their campuses into international schools or management institutes.

​While the "degree mills" are closing, it has left a generation of graduates with "paper degrees" that hold little market value. The industry has moved toward skills-based hiring, where a GitHub portfolio often carries more weight than a certificate from a defunct college.