CHENNAI: Around 68.6 per cent of students were allotted seats in the first round of Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission (TNEA) — almost seven per cent higher than last year — but experts say there is nothing to be upbeat about for many engineering colleges.
In the first round, 14,842 students were called to participate in the counselling but seats were allotted to only 10,187 candidates. Almost 32 per cent skipped counselling in the first round itself. “Vacancy of seats will increase further as counselling for IITs and NITs is ongoing and NEET results are also awaited. Every year, seats in premier institutes like Anna University remain vacant as top-ranking students leave their seats to join other institutes. This time, the scenario will be the same,” said former vice-chancellor of Anna University, E Balagurusamy.
“The number of engineering seats in the State is much higher than the demand. Adding to it, the quality of colleges is degrading with each passing year. It’s obvious that students will look beyond engineering courses,” added Balagurusamy.
Experts feel this year too, vacancy in engineering colleges in the State will almost be the same as last year. Engineering colleges were hopeful of a better turnout of students this year as class 12 results in State Board and CBSE Board were 100%. “In the third and fourth rounds of counselling, the interest of students will drop further as seats of popular subjects like computer science, electronics and communication engineering in good colleges would have filled up by then,” said career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi. “If the trend of absentees continues in subsequent rounds, then this year also, colleges will struggle to fill their seats,” added Gandhi.
Some also feel that, even students who secured provisional allocation of seats, might drop out later because of not getting admission in their preferred courses. “As the competition is quite tough this year due to a significant rise in the number of top scorers, many students have failed to get seat in their preferred course in their preferred college. There is a sizable chunk of such students who may leave. The exact number of students will be clear only after colleges open,” said A Srikant, teacher in a private engineering college.