CHENNAI: To safeguard the career prospects of hundreds of final-year engineering students of its four constituent colleges in Chennai, Anna University has decided to organise an unprecedented, one-time special exam in late October to give them the opportunity to clear their pending arrears and reclaim their placement eligibility.
The special examination is aimed at ensuring that students who have otherwise met the eligibility criteria are not left out of campus placements solely because of arrears.
The four campus colleges of Anna University — ACTECH (Alagappa College of Technology), CEG (College of Engineering, Guindy), MIT (Madras Institute of Technology) and SAP (School of Architecture and Planning) — recorded an average placement rate of around 72% for the 2025-26 season that extends from June-September 2026. ACTECH recorded the lowest placement rate of 59%.
“This is just a one-time arrangement. We are not going to conduct such exams every year,” said registrar V Kumaresan. He further highlighted that they do not want to create an impression among students that they will be given this kind of opportunity every year to clear arrears.
University officials said the initiative was conceptualised after reviewing the placement performance of the campus colleges and identifying arrears as a major impediment for students seeking employment through campus recruitment. According to sources, worried over ACTECH’s poor performance, the varsity undertook a survey through Google form to identify the root cause of the problem.
“The survey revealed that almost 90% of the students wanted to participate in placements, but 40% of them have arrears in at least one subject that made them ineligible,” said a faculty member.
Similarly, out of the total 720 students in the seventh semester in ACT this time, at least 250 have arrears. Majority of the students have arrears in Mathematics and core subjects in their respective streams accordingly, as a one-time corrective measure, this special examination was conceptualised.
“We have directed the course instructors in all four campuses to identify students eligible to appear for this exam,” said Kumaresan.
“To help the students in clearing the arrears, we are conducting special classes for them. Faculty members have been selected from each department to help students brush up the course,” said K Shanmuga Sundaram, director of the Centre for University-Industry Collaboration (CUIC), which takes care of placement drives in the varsity.
He stated that in 2024-25, the varsity recorded 65% placement and this year, the situation has improved a bit.