CHENNAI: Amid slowdown in software jobs and layoffs by tech majors, core engineering courses such as Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), Civil and Mechanical Engineering seem to be back in the reckoning in Tamil Nadu piggybacking on the boom in the semiconductor industry.
ECE has become the second-most-sought-after course this year in TN engineering counselling, surpassing Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (AI&DS), and Information Technology (IT). Last year, after the first round, only 3% of seats in civil and mechanical courses were filled, but this year the admission figures for the streams have doubled to 6%, an analyst said.
The final allotment list after the first round of the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission (TNEA) counselling released on Saturday revealed that out of the 39,145 students who took part in the counselling, 26,719 were allotted seats. As per the data, out of the total 36,748 seats available in Computer Science streams across the state, 7,526 seats have been taken, while ECE is placed second with 4,534 of the available 25,864 seats being taken in the first round. In the AI&DS stream, of the total 22,767 seats, 3,208 have been filled. At the end of round one, 15.42% of seats have been filled, almost 5% higher than last year. This year, a total of 1.72 lakh seats were available for general counselling in 425 colleges.
Notably, last year, following CSE, AI&DS had taken the second spot in the first round. In 2024, at the end of round one, 15.27% of CSE seats were filled, followed by AI&DS (13%) and IT (12.21%). ECE got the fourth spot with only 10.1% seats being filled in the first round last year.
‘Students pick tier-2 colleges too to get CSE and ECE seats’
According to analysts and academicians, the demand for electrical and electronics engineering-related courses have soared significantly due to a slowdown in the IT sector and a boom in the semiconductor and chip manufacturing industry in the country.
“Along with electronics-related courses, demand for other core courses like Civil and Mechanical Engineering have also increased this year. Interestingly, all Civil Engineering seats in Anna University’s CEG have been filled in the first round itself, including the Tamil medium ones, which is quite uncommon,” said Jayaprakash Gandhi, career counselor.
Another career expert R Ashwin, said that the demand for electronics-related courses reflects rising awareness among students regarding the career prospects core engineering courses offer. “What’s really interesting is that to get into courses such as CSE and ECE, students in the first round have opted for Tier-II and even Tier-III colleges,” said Ashwin. Students who secured a cut-off in the range 179-200 had participated in the first round of the TNEA counselling.
“The much-needed boost to the semi-conductor sector has really hiked the demand for skilled manpower in the sector. It is welcoming that students are looking beyond CSE and AI,” said K Murugesan, a retired faculty of a government engineering college.
At the end of the first round of conselling, 30 TN colleges have managed to fill more than 60% of their sears, while 142 others have not managed to enrol a single student.
Career counselors have advised students participating in the subsequent rounds (of the three-round process) to fill in their choices properly. “Due to ignorance or misguidance, many top-ranking students have ended up opting for poor-performing colleges in the first round,” Gandhi said. He asked the students to be careful, while filling in their choices and advised them to go for premium colleges if they get the chance.