276 engg seats in AU colleges wasted

276 engg seats in AU colleges wasted

Toppers Who Took Seats Leave To Pursue MBBS After Med Counselling

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:  08.01.2021

As many as 276 students have discontinued BE and BTech courses this year in top TN colleges including Anna University’s College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) and Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), Chromepet, to study medicine and other courses. These seats meant for top rankers will lie vacant.

While CEG has 77 such seats, MIT and ACT have 67 and 55, while School of Architecture and Planning has two. In the university’s constituent colleges, 75 seats are vacant.

Unlike for medical courses, there is no second round counselling for engineering. Experts said more seats have fallen vacant during online counselling compared to single window counselling.

Professors from Anna University said such huge vacancies began appearing after the Supreme Court fixed August 15 as admission deadline for BE, BTech courses. It was later extended to August

31. “Engineering counselling should be conducted only after medical counselling to reduce vacancies in premier colleges,” said former vicechancellor E Balagurusamy, adding that medical and engineering counseling under one roof may not be possible. “TNEA (Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission) committee can have its own deadline for admissions keeping in mind the huge vacancies. It can also represent to the regulatory authority and university for seeking extension,” he said.

Career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi said it was a huge waste of seats. “Many, who otherwise would have studied in Anna University colleges, are spending huge money to study in self-financing colleges.”

Anna University vicechancellor M K Surappa said the government should delay engineering counselling until counselling for IITs and NITs starts. “It should conduct a second round to fill vacant engineering seats after medical counseling.”