Engineering admissions in India show a downward trend
Until a few years ago, most Plus-Two students passing out of schools dreamt of getting admission in an engineering college, with the hope that after four years of study, they would get placed in a company with a hefty pay package. But the trend has changed now and students are not willing to pursue engineering if they fail to get a seat in their preferred college or course.
In this year’s Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission, conducted by the Anna University to fill up government quota seats in colleges across the State, only 82,249 seats were filled and 94,868 went vacant. At the end of counselling, only 43 engineering colleges managed to get more than 90 per cent of government quota seats filled, while 136 colleges saw only half of the government quota seats fill up. In 82 private colleges, less than 10 per cent were occupied.
According to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) handbook, when institutions have courses where admission is less than 30 per cent for the past five years consistently, the council shall reduce 50 percent of the approved intake in such courses in the current academic year. If we take this into consideration, less than 30 per cent of government quota seats were filled in 238 private engineering colleges this year.
To overcome demand and supply mismatch, the AICTE has asked all the states to come out with their perspective plans about number of engineering colleges needed in the state based on the industrial requirement of the state. But, only seven states - Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Telangana - have charted out their perspective plans. States which have the largest number of engineering colleges, such as Tamil Nadu, have not prepared their plans.
Following this, the AICTE has now designated IIT-Delhi as national coordinator for developing a perspective plan for technical education in India. Industrial bodies like CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM will be roped in to give feedback on the current scenario of technical education.
Commenting on the present scenario, E Balagurusamy, former Vice-Chancellor of Anna University said, “Parents and students are well aware of the status of engineering colleges, their placement record, and college managements that do not have good faculty. So, the total number of students willing to join engineering education has come down. Just around 1 lakh students are willing to join engineering courses and 70 per cent opt for tier 1 colleges. Those colleges which are not able to attract students have to simply close down. There should be no mercy or sympathy towards them.”
Balagurusamy also says 40 per cent of colleges lack infrastructure, faculty and commitment. “If they continue to function, they will spoil the future of the students. In the interest of public and the students community, the state government and the Anna University Vice-Chancellor should close down these colleges. Ideally, colleges should have 70 per cent of admission to run economically. Even if they manage 50 per cent, they can survive. The management will incur losses with anything less than 50 per cent. The Anna University should call for a meeting of such managements and take action to close them down,” he suggested.
However, All India Federation of Self-Financing Technical Institutions secretary TD Eswaramoorthy said in more than 250 colleges, less than 100 students each got admitted this year. “Even big colleges got less admissions. Only if 500-plus seats are occupied, an institution can be run. Nearly 150-200 colleges will be facing problems if the present trend continues.” Under the management quota another 30,000 seats may be filled. This will take the total admission to 1.10–1.15 lakh this year, out of the available 2.10 lakh seats, he predicted.
Negative publicity about college capitation fee and placement affects admissions, he said, adding, “We need a helping hand from the government. Starting new industries would create more job opportunities. Colleges are giving fee concessions, as they are unable to run the college with low admissions.”
He also urged the AICTE to allow colleges to surrender more number of seats, which they can get back later on.
He also felt the single window counselling system can be scrapped, due to low admissions.
All India Private College Employees Union founder KM Karthik said, “Corporate firms are running engineering colleges in the country and their motive is not service, but high profits. This is the main reason for the present state of affairs.” The AICTE should also allow teachers and parents to start engineering colleges under the cooperative union act. Under this model, each individual should be allowed to have only 1 per cent of the share, so that engineering education can become affordable,” he added.
He also blamed the poor quality of technical education in the state on lack of inspections from AICTE and Anna University. He said if deficiencies are found in an inspection, colleges call for applications for teaching posts, collect CVs and submit these details to the AICTE and AU as compliance report. And such reports are accepted, he lamented.
Cooperative colleges
The AICTE should allow teachers and parents to start engineering colleges under the cooperative union act, suggests All India Private College Employees Union founder KM Karthik. This will make engineering education affordable, he adds
