In the first round of Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission counselling this year, Chennai region colleges have not performed as well as Coimbatore region.
Some college officials say it is still too early to conclude but some others believe early trends point to a new phase.
Though Anna University departments and some of the colleges like PSG and SSN seem to have filled seats in the Open Category many colleges in Chennai which have seen admission in the cut off range of 195 and 192 are expecting students.
Sai Prakash Leo of Sai Ram Engineering College says there has been a steady dip in the applicants in the cut off ranges of 191.75, 187 and 164.5 since 2016. In the 191.75 cut off, 2,600 fewer students have applied; similarly in the 164.5 cut off mark, 12,195 fewer candidates are competing, he says.
Sadagopan Rajkumar, head of biomedical engineering at Rajalakshmi Engineering College, says Chennai-based colleges may have slid as more colleges in the Coimbatore region are autonomous. “Students find Anna University’s curriculum tough and have probably not chosen colleges affiliated to the University,” he surmised.
“Our competition is with SSN. Last year we won the gold and SSN silver medal in biomedical engineering. We have to wait and see the performance in the next round,” he added.
His worry is that if the cut-off marks during entry is lower, the performance would be affected. “We don’t know how the public missed the co-curriculur strength of the colleges,” he says.
Coimbatore-based colleges attribute the preference to students from further south and nearby Tiruchi region which have fewer colleges with good rating. S. Kuppuswami, principal of Kongu College says Coimbatore has the advantage of having some of the established colleges such as CIT, PSG and GCT.
As for students opting for other colleges, he says institution’s approach to discipline also matters. A college that has established a reputation for discipline on the campus may keep students away, he reasons. He notices it even in his college, he points out. Students would opt for a college that allows more freedom, he says.
It is not the tough curriculum as much as the students’ perception of a college, he says. College officials say the results of the next round of counselling would see more seats filling up and also show a clearer trend.
