COIMBATORE: OVER 75,000 students pursue civil engineering, 65,000 in electrical engineering, 1.35 lakh in electronic and computer engineering while 95,000 pursue mechanical engineering in India and, it is good for the country, said TG Sitharam, chairperson of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), here on Saturday.
“Today, six lakh students pursue computer-based courses, that’s due to the market needs but in 2-3 years, core engineering with emerging technologies will be popular as emerging areas are very important to all,” he said while attending the 22nd graduation ceremony at Krishna College of Engineering and Technology in Coimbatore.
Speaking to reporters, Sitharam said increase of 50% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) at the national level by 2035 is a huge challenge. The AICTE is focusing on providing skills needed to make students employable and has taken the initiative to ensure this by creating portals for placement, career and internship. He congratulated Tamil Nadu for achieving the 50% of GER in higher education already.
“At present, 4.3 crore children are pursuing higher education at 45,000 colleges and 1,200 universities in the nation. We targeted to touch 50% of GER by 2035 and now 28.3% achieved nationally. With four crore students poised to take up higher education in the next 10 years, new universities and colleges will be required to fulfil higher education demands. We should grow 22% of GER in the next 11 years and it will be a big challenge,” he said.
He urged students to take up digital skills, particularly in AI irrespective of their stream. He awarded degree certificates to 1,235 graduates, out of which 1,099 received their UG degrees and 126 received PG degrees.