Little interest in core engineering branches

Chennai: Engineering aspirants have shown little interest in core engineering branches like civil engineering this year. This may be due to various reasons like aspirations of better pay package in other courses, more favourable campus placements and peer pressure.

After a week into engineering counselling, the civil engineering seats were the least filled among the core branches with only 10% of the total available seats were taken as on Sunday. Meanwhile, Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) and Computer Science Engineering (CSE) were selected by twice the numbers of students as compared to civil engineering.

More than 50% of the biotechnology seats available for the counselling were taken.  But core branches like Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) and Electronics Instrumentation also have fewer takers this time. Another core branch in mechanical engineering is second most favoured course in the counselling, but it also has more vacant seats this year.

“All the parents and students are asking for CSE and ECE branches for the admissions under the management quota. They are not willing to listen when we try to explain to them core branches also have equal opportunities,” said B. Chidambara Rajan, principal, Valliammai Engineering College.

“Like CSE students, EEE students also got over 90% placements last year. The civil engineering students also had equal opportunities compared with mechanical engineering students. But the students are willing to join only in CSE or Mechanical branches,” he said. Career consultant Jayaprakash A. Gandhi said salary is one of the main constraints for the students in choosing the core branches like civil engineering. “After spending Rs 3 to 4 lakh for an engineering degree, the student can only earn around Rs 10,000 per month initially.

The core branch students have to clear the GATE exam for better prospects like government jobs or higher education opportunities. So, the parents prefer the circuit branches,” he said. Other courses like automobile engineering, aeronautical engineering, production and industrial engineering also have got only a few students.   “Campus placements for the automobile or aeronautical engineering are very less and they have to study a mechanical subject to clear the GATE exam,” Jayaprakash A. Gandhi said.

So, what attracts the students towards the circuit branches? “IT companies are still the biggest recruiters of engineering graduates and they also offer an attractive salary for the young graduates. For the last two years, they are recruiting more students from CSE and ECE branches,” a placement official said.