After four rounds of single-window counselling for engineering admissions, 71,195 seats have been filled. The total intake for this year stood at 1,57,689 seats, in 461 colleges. The Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) committee had declared 1,10,873 candidates eligible.
TNEA officials are awaiting the government’s nod to conduct supplementary counselling, in which several hundred more seats may get filled.
Only 13 colleges, including Anna University’s four campuses, the government engineering college in Salem, CIPET, CECRI and the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, Salem, besides PSG College of Technology, PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research and Thiagarajar College of Engineering, have managed to fill all seats.
From the first round, absenteeism has been hovering past 37%. In the first round, 38.76% candidates did not turn up for counselling. This rose to 41.43% in the second round and fell to 40.23% in the third. In the fourth round, absenteeism stood at 31.42%,
Absenteeism in government seats has not resulted in candidates seeking seats under management quota either.
Several middle-rung colleges have not been able to fill even 50% of their management quota seats, college officials said.
Anna University Vice-Chancellor M.K. Surappa said, “It is a combination of factors. In the last few years, the employability of engineering graduates has come down drastically. Except computer science and information technology, all other branches, especially manufacturing and civil engineering, have not been able to take in students. More students are aspiring for higher education. The Alagappa College of Technology, which usually faces difficulty in filling seats, has filled all seats this year.”
Government colleges offering Tamil-medium engineering programmes too are struggling to fill seats, he said. Students find other avenues, such as B.Sc programmes, short-term and certificate courses, more appealing.
The government will have to form a committee of educationists to critically assess the needs of the colleges.
“Engineering has to be made attractive for students to opt the programme. Students will shun mediocre colleges with mediocre faculty. They should be assured of a good career and good infrastructure in the colleges,” he said.
