CHENNAI: With almost 100 per cent pass being recorded in State board and CBSE Class 12 results, it was expected that private engineering colleges, which have been struggling to fill seats for the past few years, will be able to get a good number of students this year.
However, authorities of private engineering colleges have cited that students are no more interested in traditional courses like civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, and due to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)’s new norms, many colleges are not able to commence new courses related to computer science, IT and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which are very much in demand. Due to the situation, colleges this year too may face student shortage.
This year, 16 engineering colleges have decided not to take part in the admission counselling. “The digital world has created great demand for skilled persons in data science, AI and machine learning. The students too want to study these courses. But we are not able to cater to their needs as the AICTE decided not to allow new courses in colleges that were unable to fill 50 per cent of seats last year,” said P Selvaraj, Consortium of Self-Financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges secretary.
“It has become difficult to fill even 20 per cent of the seats in traditional courses. If we are not permitted to end these obsolete courses and begin new courses, we will be forced to close down our colleges soon,” said S Ganeshan, principal of a private engineering college.
Members of the consortium have approached the AICTE and appealed to grant them permission to open new courses. TD Eswaramoorthy, joint secretary of Consortium of Self-Financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges, said that it is high time the AICTE looks into the colleges’ issues and suggests a solution.