COIMBATORE: Private engineering colleges in the State are shocked by the drastic fall in minimum cut-off marks, even for top institutions. This comes amid concerns about government quota seats in these colleges not getting filled through the single-window counselling conducted by DoTE.
Now, fearing this would affect semester results, the colleges have decided to approach the government, and request reintroduction of the old system of counselling in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchy.
At the end of the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission counselling this academic year, only 49.7 per cent seats were filled. A whopping 84,256 seats had no takers.
Top-ranking colleges, where government quota seats get filled within a few days, had seat availability the fourth round of online counselling this time. Sources say some elite colleges had vacant seats even after the counselling ended.
Speaking on this issue, All India Federation of Self Financing Technical Institutions secretary TD Eswaramoorthy said the trend was not a good sign for the engineering courses, as 150-200 seats went vacant in a few reputed colleges that used to produce good results.
Consortium of Self Financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu secretary P Selvaraj blamed online system of counselling.
“Our association is planning to appeal to the State government to implement the old system of counselling and conduct the process at four places in the State.” He attributed the fall in minimum cut off marks to the tough evaluation.
“Previously, students used to opt top colleges irrespective of subjects. However, now they have been more aware of choosing the branch they want to pursue and choose colleges accordingly,” he opined.
Chairman of a private engineering college in Coimbatore, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the fall in minimum cut-off marks might have an impact on the results of these colleges in the coming years.
“It was easy to get the cream of students and deliver good results. Now, these colleges will have to work hard. The actual teaching quality of these colleges will now be visible,” he said.
Anna University seeks govt help for IoE tag
Chennai: Anna University Vice-Chancellor MK Surappa on Tuesday wrote a letter to the state government seeking support in getting the Institution of Eminence (IoE) tag. The move comes after UGC announced that varsity can be considered only after the state govt issues an official communication allocating its share of funds (which is up to 50 per cent). The UGC recently recommended 20 institutions for grant of IoE status. “I have written to the Higher Education dept seeking all kinds of support for the IoE tag. The department will have to issue a letter of intent with clarity on quantum of funds to be allocated to the university and then only we will be able to get the IoE tag,” said Surappa on the matter.