AP students find grass on the other side greener

Despite the highest number of engineering seats and colleges here, State students are crazy about engineering courses outside AP apparently due to poor quality, volatile political atmosphere affecting studies and delay in admissions.

Thousands of students from the State are either appearing or applied for the entrance tests of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), SRM University, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Karunya University, Satyabhama University and Kanchi University in Tamil Nadu. For the VIT engineering entrance exam being conducted now, 33,000 students are from AP out of the 1.66 lakh total aspirants.

Similarly, State students form 36.5 per cent (about 50,000) of the 1.52 lakh students appearing for the SRM University entrance exam. Interestingly, only 14.8 per cent (about 22,000) are from Tamil Nadu.

Similar is the response to entrance exams of Amrita and Satyabhama universities.

Parents are sold to the idea of quality education while students are mostly following their seniors with positive feedback about academic standards, facilities, teachers and placements. “VIT and SRM are attractive names for any engineering aspirant for various reasons,” agreed Raghav, an aspirant from Hyderabad. He has applied for EAMCET, but says VIT is his first choice.

Hike in fee

Another factor is the increased fee in ‘top’ colleges here and it’s almost equal to deemed varsities. “In comparison, deemed varsities are a better option,” says Raghav’s father, Goverdhan Reddy. People like him are also annoyed with the frequent disruption of academic schedule due to agitations. “With elections around, we expect a lot of disturbance in the next two years,” argues Mr. Reddy.

The name sells and parents agree that VIT or SRM are stronger names in the job market. “They are able to promote themselves better and the delay in admissions here is also helping them,” argues Rajeshwar Reddy, general secretary of Consortium of Engineering Colleges Managements Association (CECMA).

Constant friction between college managements and the government over funds release under fee reimbursement scheme has sent a wrong signal to students that there is nothing smooth here. Parents say discussions are never about academic standards but only about fee structure.

With more than three lakh students applying for EAMCET engineering stream this year, college managements are upbeat about admissions but admit that a lot of good students were moving out to deemed varsities.

“It’s a loss not only to the State but also to the colleges,” agrees Suneel of Consortium of Professional and Engineering Colleges Managements Association.