CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA 2020) committee received 1,74,171 lakh applications, which is almost 10 per cent more than previous year’s 1.60 lakh applications. The rise in number of applications has given some solace to engineering colleges, which struggle every year to fill seats.
Experts attributed the rise in applications to factors like 100 per cent pass recorded in CBSE and State Board class 12, high cut off marks expected in government arts and science colleges and lack of clarity over NEET.
“As the pass percentage in class 12 examination was 100%, more students are opting for engineering courses. Adding to it, tough competition and delay in conduct of NEET has also prompted many students to apply for engineering courses,” said S Arumugam, retired principal of an engineering college.
“To make engineering students more employable, colleges have started offering new courses, related to artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), data science, and cyber security. There is no dearth of jobs in the sector and rise in TNEA applications clearly cite that now students also want to encash in on the opportunity,” said P Selvaraj, secretary, Consortium of Self-Financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu.
The TNEA application process started on July 26 and candidates were given time till midnight of August 24 to register online. Last year, we received 1,33,116 applications. So far 1,43,774 lakh candidates paid the fees for online counselling while 1,38,533 candidates have uploaded the relevant documents. “As there is increase in number of applications, we are expecting that engineering colleges will be able to fill their seats,” said T Purushothaman, secretary TNEA.
The random number for applicants will be assigned on August 25 and the rank list will be released on September 4. Counselling for special categories will be conducted from September 7 to September 11. While online counselling for general quota seats will begin on September 14 and it will go on till October 4.
US education fair in city
Chennai: Indian students and their parents will have the opportunity to interact with more than 100 accredited US universities and college representatives about university programmes and admission criteria at the upcoming EducationUSA University Virtual Fairs 2021, according to a release. The fair for students seeking Master’s or PhD programmes will be held from 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm on August 2. For registration, log on to https://bit.ly/EdUSAFair21EmbWeb. For high school students seeking associate’s or Bachelor’s degree programmes it will be held from 5.30 pm to 10.30 pm on September 3. Register at https://bit.ly/UGEdUSAFair21EmbWeb
