Hyderabad: A year after scrapping nine integrated courses, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTUH), has discontinued three MTech programmes at its campus college, citing faculty shortages and low student enrolment. The move comes despite one of the programmes still attracting students at Osmania University (OU).The programmes—MTech in Environmental Geomatics, MTech in Spatial Information Technology, and MTech in Transportation Engineering—will not admit students this academic year.Interestingly, MTech in Transportation Engineering continues to attract students elsewhere in the state. During the first phase of TG PGECET-2026 counselling, 13 students were provisionally allotted seats at OU’s College of Engineering, while 19 students were allotted seats at Brilliant Institute of Engineering & Technology. The other two programmes are not offered by any other college participating in TG PGECET counselling in Telangana.KM Laxman Rao, a retired professor who taught Transportation Engineering at JNTUH, said the programme, introduced in 1989, continues to be in high demand in India and abroad. He said graduates from the programme work in areas such as transport planning, rural-urban connectivity, traffic management, water analytics, congestion analysis, and air transport. “Discontinuing such courses only shows the myopic view of the varsity,” he added.Seconding Rao, L Ravi, an environmental and GIS expert working on a World Bank project, said: “GIS mapping is integral to almost every infrastructure project, and graduates in Spatial Information Technology are in high demand. IIT Hyderabad and IIIT Hyderabad also offer the course. If students were not opting for it at JNTUH, the university should have created awareness about its career opportunities instead of discontinuing it.”Student activists said the university has been steadily discontinuing programmes, including part-time courses.“Last year, the university discontinued several integrated and MSc programmes, and this year it has withdrawn three more MTech courses. Part-time MTech programmes have also been affected. Instead of citing faculty shortages, the university should strengthen courses that are in demand and important for society,” said J Dileep of the Students Protection Force.Principal G Venkata Narasimha Reddy said the university was forced to temporarily discontinue a few programmes to make the best use of its available faculty.“We want at least 50% of classes to be handled by regular faculty. These programmes have been temporarily discontinued because we do not have enough faculty. With only one or two regular or contract faculty members handling them, they are already overburdened. By discontinuing a few programmes, especially those with low enrolment, we can deploy faculty to in-demand courses. This will also improve our ranking,” he said.
