There are 219 engineering colleges affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), which is in Belgaum in the state of Karnataka, India. This list is categorised into two parts, autonomous colleges and non-autonomous colleges. Autonomous colleges are bestowed academic independence, primarily in order to enhance the level of education in those colleges.

A college may be classified as government run, private unaided, or private aided. A government college receives full funding from the Government of Karnataka, while a private unaided college receives no funding from the government. In a private aided college, one or more of its courses receives partial funding from the government. An autonomous college enjoys academic independence which gives it the freedom to revise the syllabus with time and follow a schedule which is more suitable for the set curriculum. Almost all engineering colleges in Karnataka are affiliated to VTU, notable exceptions being University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka and Manipal Institute of Technology.