The controversy over work visas in the United States, tightening of student visas and deportations may have an impact on the numbers of Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) this year from the two Telugu states.
The number of engineering graduates appearing for GATE-2017 from the two Telugu states may go up, feel the trainers. Around 1.5 lakh students test their luck in GATE from both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana every year out of the eight lakh-odd students appearing from across the country. The recent developments like deportation of students from some US varsities, changing political atmosphere in the US where Indian techies are being targeted, and tightening of student visas might increase this number.
“Going by the response among the final year engineering students the number of aspirants might go up,” agrees a GATE trainer from a popular training centre in the city. The performance of Telugu students has also been notable over the years and that is also generating a lot of interest. “Those qualifying in GATE are estimated at 26 to 28 per cent from Hyderabad and 16 per cent from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,” says M. V. Reddy, President, TIME, a well-known training centre for GATE.
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However, Delhi as a city is ahead of Hyderabad with nearly 30 per cent success rate while it is 28 per cent in West Bengal and 26 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. Other States usually having around 20 per cent or more qualifiers include Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Haryana, Chandigarh and Bihar.
While the number of Telugu GATE aspirants may increase, the exam itself is not attracting many graduates and this reflects the dip in the figures over the last few years. The number dipped from 9,84,855 in 2013 to 8,18,850 last year. The number was 8,89,156 in 2014 and 8,04,463 in 2015. Though it increased to 8,18,850 in 2016, there has been a huge fall since 2013. When the number rose to 9,84,855 in 2013 from a meagre 6,86,614 in 2012 it was attributed to the massive recruitment drive taken up by public sector undertakings (PSUs) which preferred GATE as a qualifying exam.
“The number of PSUs accepting GATE score is expected to keep increasing over the years as GATE exam not only provides a good indicator of the technical ability and general aptitude of a student but also provides a huge and highly competitive candidate pool for selection,” says Mr. M.V. Reddy. Currently around 40 PSUs have confirmed their participation in accepting GATE scores for recruitment and there is an increased interest in Government jobs among Telugu students due to uncertainty in the US market.
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Another strong reason seems to be the quality coaching available in Hyderabad. The GATE-2017 will be held on February 4 and 5 and also on February 11 and 12 in the online mode expected to contain multiple choice questions and numerical questions. The entire process of application filling to examination is only online.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and seven Indian Institutes of Technology (in Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee) jointly administer the conduct of GATE and ranks are used to for admission into M.Tech courses offered by these institutes.