Tamil Nadu: No takers for 20 engineering colleges

CHENNAI: With just one week to go for the academic counselling, over 20 engineering colleges have no takers and 121 colleges got students only in single digits so far.

As usual, seats in the top 50 engineering colleges almost got filled. Surprisingly, many students opted for government and government-aided engineering colleges this year. Of the 5,939 seats in these colleges, only 18 seats were vacant as of Friday evening.

“We can expect around 150 colleges to have less than 50 students this year. It would be impossible for them to run the engineering colleges. AICTE should allow the engineering colleges which are not preferred by the students to close,” said Jayaprakash A. Gandhi,  the career consultant.

Last year, around 125 colleges had admitted students less than 50.

He further said the second level engineering colleges and government engineering colleges have done well as they attracted more students this year.

“Due to the fee hike this year, many students have opted for government engineering colleges. To avoid the hostel expenses they have chosen the colleges very close to their residence,” he said.

As many as 250 engineering colleges have got the students less than 100 so far.

E. Balagurusamy, former vice-chancellor, Anna University, said that over 200 colleges are having poor infrastructure and faculty strength.

“The colleges which have admitted students less than 20 per cent of their intake should be closed as they cannot run them properly. The students should be transferred to other colleges," he urged.

"With poor enrollment, they cannot provide any facilities for engineering students. The parents and students are making sound decisions and its a welcome one," he added.