The craze for engineering continues with 88,744 application forms sold across the State on the first day for admissions to 488 colleges through the single window system.
As there was a crowd of students and parents waiting at Anna University, the sale of application forms began as early as 3 am on Monday and 4,000 application forms were sold by 9 am. At the end of the day, 13,329 application forms were sold in Chennai and 88,744 in 62 centres across the State.
Last year, 2,04,541 application forms were sold for engineering admissions out of whom 1,65,235 were eligible candidates.
As many as 1,11,883 students attended counselling and were admitted to 472 engineering colleges. Only 8,172 seats fell vacant.
“This year, over 400 engineering colleges have sought permission for introducing additional courses and increased intake. This could give 30,000 additional seats,” said Prof. P. Mannar Jawahar, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University. As most of the colleges already have the required infrastructure, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) would grant the additional seats if the colleges fulfilled the required criteria, he said. AICTE's expert teams would inspect the infrastructure for approval of new colleges on May 18, 19 and 20 followed by a meeting of the regulatory agency's Southern Regional Committee meeting.
Already 2.30 lakh application forms have been printed and distributed this year and if there was a need more forms could be printed.
As many as 78,000 students participated in the counselling last year. At the time of submission of filled-in forms, the first generation students should submit photo copies of proof from the authorities concerned on the status, Prof. Jawahar said. A team led by TNEA secretary Prof.V. Rhymend Uthariaraj is overseeing the admission process.
Interaction with a cross-section of students with a cut-off in the range of 140 to 170 revealed that computer science, civil and mechanical were still the favourites in that bracket.
“Students should know that there is only application form for engineering admission. There are no separate forms for each subject,” said Prof. A. Ramalingam, director-admissions, Anna University.
A handbook on colleges is also provided with the forms to give an overview of the facilities in each college.
