Around 50 colleges have reportedly chosen not to seek affiliation to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) in Hyderabad, for the 2017-18 academic year.
This comes after the university decided to put strict rules in place, and deny affiliation to any colleges that did not meet its criteria.
Writing for the Times of India, Nirupa Vatyam reported that this reduces the number of engineering, pharma, and MBA seats by at least 25,000.
Speaking to TOI, N Yadaiah, registrar, JNTU-H said, that a committee had already begun inspecting the colleges that have applied for affiliation, and that they expected some colleges to opt out.
"At the end of the day, improving the quality of technical education is our aim and it's okay if some colleges move out if they feel they can't follow our norms," he told the newspaper.
According to reports, a fact finding committee will now review the affiliation requests and also consider any objections raised by the private colleges.
The number of colleges that will be granted affiliation will be announced in a few months, after the inspection is completed.
In 2015, JNTU decided to tighten its rules, to ensure better quality of facilities among the colleges that were affiliated to it.
However, many colleges have protested, saying that the rules were too strict, and even a minor fault would result in a denial of affiliation.
In July last year, the JNTU denied affiliation to 83 colleges, out of the total 360 private colleges including 241 engineering colleges, that had applied.