CHENNAI: There is a significant drop in the number of engineering aspirants in Tamil Nadu. Only 1.32 lakh students have applied this year for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA), much less than the 1.59 lakh applications in 2018. While the deadline to send the application is May 31 midnight, only 1,32,442 applications had been received till 7 pm Friday. Officials are hoping the numbers will go up by a few hundred by midnight.
A total of 1.76 lakh seats, spread across 500 engineering colleges in the State, will be offered during the counselling. The reduction in demand compared to the last year, and the surplus of seats despite quality control measures taken by regulatory bodies display the declining interest in engineering courses among students.
This is surprising because since 2016, there has been a steady increase in admissions. The numbers grew from 1.38 lakh in 2016 to 1.45 lakh in 2017 and a substantial 1.59 lakh last year. “With the number of applicants decreasing, the number of students who turn up for counselling and, subsequently, enrol into colleges will reduce further,” says the principal of a private engineering college.
Experts claim the lack of interest is primarily due to dearth of appropriate opportunities and poor quality of education. “Students prefer commerce and arts these days rather than enrol in a below-average engineering college,” says an Anna University faculty member on the condition of anonymity.
After two decades, the counselling is being conducted again by the Directorate of Technical Education this year. For the last 22 years, it was the Anna University that was conducting the process. This year, the university’s vice-chancellor resigned from the TNEA committee as he was upset with the untimely restructuring of the panel.