Engineering admissions fall by 30% from last yr in city

Trichy: The nationwide trend of declining engineering admissions continued in Trichy too with most city engineering colleges reporting roughly 30% fall in admissions compared to last year. With the admission counselling almost over, colleges are now relying on supplementary counselling to work wonders. Some also attribute the discouraging trend to students opting for colleges in metropolitan cities than those in tier-2 cities.

Correspondent of MAM College of Engineering (MAMCE), M A Maluk, said that first year admission to their college had come down to 60% from 94% last year. “It has come as a surprise for us and we cannot understand the pattern of admission this year. We do not know whether to blame it on the online admission process, which was adopted this year, or to assume that students are moving away from engineering,” he said. Anna University’s regulations on limiting students from appearing for arrear papers last year had also hit the non-autonomous institutions badly, as a weak student may now find it difficult to climb up the ladder, Maluk said.

Agreeing that there is a declining trend, principal of K Ramakrishnan college of engineering (KRCE) D Srinivasan said despite more than a lakh students registering for engineering admission this year in the state, only two-third of them turned up for admissions. Among them, majority of the students opt for top performing colleges in the metropolitan cities and only colleges in the region could fill decent amount of seats this year. “There has been no significant industrial growth in the state, which in turn has affected the engineering admissions,” he added.

VSB Engineeing College, Karur is one among the few colleges which could fill 98% seats this year. Founder chairman of the college V S Balsamy credited it to a set of seven established strategies that led to their consistent performance over the years. “We remain focused on weak students and ensure they are not left behind. That is one reason students still believe in our college and we get better admissions,” he said.

“A large number of engineering colleges in the state too is a reason for low admissions,” said a senior faculty from a private engineering college. There were not many takers for mechanical and civil engineering courses this year, unlike computer science and I-T which were a hit among students.