Not many takers for MCA in Tamil Nadu
Number of applications for MCA in Anna University’s Tamil Nadu Common Admission Test this year saw a downward trend
By : n. arun kumar
Update: 2015-09-24 06:28 GMT
Chennai: Master of Computer Application (MCA) course, which attracted a large number of students in the past, has now lost sheen. Seventeen engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu have either reduced their intake or closed the programme resulting in reduction of 1,110 seats totally this year.
Former Anna University Vice-Chancellor E. Balagurusamy said MCA programme and its curriculum had become obsolete in the current scenario as the course was introduced three decades ago when there were fewer B.E/B.Tech seats.
“Students don’t want to study three years of under graduation (B.Sc), then pursue MCA for the next three years, rather they opt to do four years of B.E/B.Tech to get a job in a company. Universities can now bring in a new programme with latest course content rather than continuing MCA,” he said.
S. Santhosh Baboo, head of the computer science department (under-graduate) at D.G.Vaishnav College here, says that a decade ago several students joined MCA after graduating in B.Sc (computer science) and BCA as companies recruited more MCA graduates.
“Today, companies have started recruiting either B.Sc (computer science) or B.E graduates. So, when job opportunities started to come down for MCA graduates, a few students turned up to pursue the course. There also was a mismatch with more MCA graduates and less jobs,” he said.
The number of applications for MCA in Anna University’s Tamil Nadu Common Admission Test (Tancet) this year saw a downward trend from about 13,000 last year to about 7,000 this year.