Engineering loses its sheen

More than 50 per cent of the engineering colleges in the state have less than half of the sanctioned seats filled. Figures available with the Directorate of Technical Education reveal that during 2016-2017 out of 584 colleges in Tamil Nadu, only 19 had 100 per cent seats filled, whereas 23 engineering colleges, including two architecture colleges, saw zero admissions.  

A close look shows the gap between the number of sanctioned seats and students admitted since 2012 has been widening. In 20122013, as many as 2.62 lakh seats were sanctioned, of which only 1,82 lakh seats were filled. There were 79,673 vacant seats. An average gap of 1.25 lakh was seen in the following years, so much so that, in 2016-2017, a total of 1. 26 lakh seats were reported vacant. 

Interestingly, out of the 584 colleges, around 271 colleges affiliated to Anna University witnessed less than 50 per cent of admission. What is worse, 49 colleges saw less than 10 per cent of seats taken and 33 colleges had a mere 11 to 20 per cent students’ intake. Similarly, 41 colleges had 21 to 30 per cent of the seats occupied, 68 colleges had 31 to 40 per cent of the seats taken and 57 colleges had 41-50 per cent of the seats filled. 

It all began in 80s when the government invited private players to start engineering colleges, owing to paucity of funds with the government. “There were some good colleges in the beginning, but by the mid-nineties education transformed into a means of raking in moolah, where corruption and black money became common.  Students paid heavy capitation fees and thus the mushrooming of the colleges began,” says Prof Anandakrishnan, former Vice Chancellor of Anna University, who held the office between 1990 – 1996. 

“There were 70 engineering colleges back then. I had written to the government then to stop it. These colleges have over 2500 programmes out of which only 81 is accredited by The National Board of Accreditation,” he further explains. 

“The colleges that are not doing well should be shut and the facilities be used to start skill development centres for the students from the lower economic strata to help them get jobs. Parents and students too are aware of this. They want the students to get admitted in colleges that have a good  infrastructure and placement facility. The colleges that have less than 50 per cent seats vacant obviously lack the facilities and thus they do not find any takers,” he adds Educationists say that the rise in the number of engineering colleges is also the result of the herd mentality. During the IT boom, getting an Engineering degree guaranteed a job and it became a booming business with these colleges mushrooming in all parts of the city. Times changed and so did the market. “A person studying  Computer Science in an Arts and Science college draws the same salary as an engineering graduate. No student would spend four years along with spending huge amount of money in an Engineering college,” says Dr M Sekar, former Dean of Anna University. He further adds, departments like Information Technology, Civil Engineering and Computer Science are seeing downfall in admissions. 

Also lack of good professors is considered one of the reasons. Prof Sekar says, “No teachers join the colleges because they don’t pay well. They can’t pay well as the college is not doing well financially. It’s a vicious circle.” 

The trustee of a Kanceepuram-based engineering college agrees that they are forced to take anyone who applied, as the competition is very high. “Earlier, it was the students who chased us, but now it is us who have to convince students to join our colleges. Students are spoilt for options, so we end up giving seats to less deserving ones too. Once we start doing that, the standards and quality is likely to fall and from then on it is a downward spiral. When the admission percentage drops, we are in no place to hire decent staff and like a dominos, the system fails,” says the Trustee. She further adds, “We are planning to overhaul the system. We plan to reduce the number of departments and admit only deserving candidates, even at the cost of losing money.” 

There are colleges that have nine students. The total number of staff is 25 and they are on the verge of shutting down. “The colleges that are not doing well close the departments that has no students. They can either get the students transferred or they stop admitting new students in first year and wait for the rest of the students to finish the graduation. Eventually they put them up on sale,” says an educationalist who doesn’t want to be named. 

However, a college must approach All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for closure. “The college trust has to approach AICTE and only after their approval, the college can be closed. The AICTE considers several factors before approving the closure. Even when it comes to the closure of a department, the college needs a No Objection Certificate from the University to go ahead with it,” said a Technical education official. 

But some educationists say that there is nothing to be disheartened about. “With the concept of digital India being promoted, there is a lot of opportunities for engineers. Students must aim at being engineers and not merely engineering graduates. The degree ‘BE’ can be helpful for students preparing competitive exams like GATE and IES (Indian Engineering Service),” says educationaist S. Somasundaram.