CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) committee on Tuesday released the engineering rank list, on which at least 13 students have secured a perfect score of 200. However, what surprised academicians was that over 1 lakh students scored more than 150 marks, while only 31,000 managed to do so last year. With the number of high scorers shooting up, the number of students securing less than 100 marks has dwindled. While 26,533 students scored less than 100 marks last year, only 1,193 did so this year.
Students who secured between 160 and 180 marks are expected to have a tough time getting the courses and colleges of their choice, as a maximum number of candidates obtained scores within this band. While 57,592 students scored between 160 and 180 marks this year, the corresponding figure last year was 14,185.
“Awarding marks on the basis of some average calculation without conducting Class 12 examinations will take a toll on the quality of engineering education in the State,” said a principal of a private engineering college.
J Nithyasree, of Tiruchy, topped the rank list, while in the government-school-students category, Viswanathan G, from Chengalpattu, emerged as the top scorer with 197.9 marks. The TNEA had received 1,74,930 applications, but only 1,39,033 candidates were on the rank list as the rest were deemed ineligible based on the verification of certificates. Of the 1,39,033, as many as 87,291 are male and 51,730 are female. At least 12 transgender persons and 182 differently-abled candidates also will take part in the counselling process. A total of 15,660 students from government schools were on the rank list.
“As per the 7.5 per cent reservation quota announced this year for government school students in professional courses, 11,390 seats have been reserved for government school students,” said Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi. According to the figures provided by DOTE, as many as 1,51,870 seats in 440 engineering colleges are available this year. Last year, 461 colleges took part in the counselling process.
Ponmudi said TNEA will conduct five rounds of counselling to fill seats falling vacant after medical counselling, at premier institutions in government engineering colleges of Anna University. Last year, 700 seats in Anna University’s four campuses remained vacant after students relinquished them to study medicine.
‘Not good for everyone to get high scores’
“For the first time ever, as many as 1,09,054 students scored more than 150. This is not a good sign at all. Due to the cut-throat competition, many meritorious students won’t get their desired stream in the college of their choice,” said career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi