Over the past couple of years, the increasing demand for mechanical and civil engineering has led many engineering colleges in the city to increase the number of seats for these courses.
Several colleges in the city received approval from the All India Council for Technical Education to increase the number of mechanical and civil engineering seats this year, with many colleges adding an extra section of 60 students, said an official from Anna University.
Last year, of the 26,104 seats available through the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions, only around 6,000 seats were left vacant. Similarly, in mechanical engineering, of the 41,271 seats, less than 20 per cent were left vacant.
It is easier for deemed universities to increase the number of students in each course. This year, many of them have decided to add at least one section in their mechanical and civil courses, said J.A.K. Tareen, vice-chancellor of B.S. Abdur Rahman University.
In the last decade, very few people chose mechanical or civil engineering; as a result, there is now a large demand for these engineers, but whether there will be a need four years from now is left to be seen, said R.M. Kishore, vice-chairman of RMK College of Engineering.
An increase in the number of jobs that will require good mechanical and civil engineers is expected. There will be a number of railway projects in a number of areas, and many government posts too are expected to be vacant over the next couple of years, said the head of the mechanical department at a deemed university.
Colleges are also seeing a demand in electronics and communication engineering as well as computer science, said B. Babu Manoharan, secretary and correspondent at St. Joseph’s Institute of Technology.
According to a placement officer at a private college, it is unlikely the boom in mechanical engineering will last very long, however. There is a limited number of projects and companies, and their recruitment rate is not as high as that of IT companies.
With the new government in place, it is expected there will be an increase in demand for electronics and IT engineers.
(With additional reporting by Deepa H. Ramakrishnan)
