In 5 years, 50% drop in students passing out of AU

In 5 years, 50% drop in students passing out of AU

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.03.2021 

Number of engineering students graduating from Anna University has fallen by nearly 50% over the past five years with only 85,247 BE, B,Tech students graduating in 2020 compared to 1,65,417 students in 2016. The number of graduates among ME, MTech, MArch has also steeply fallen over the same period.

According to the 2020 convocation report, just 16,720 postgraduate students graduated in 2020, while it was 42,254 in 2016. On an average, around 50% to 60% students completed their courses within four years and received their degrees.

Only 29,520 got degrees in 2020

Along with declining engineering admissions, the confusion over arrear exams also contributed to a huge drop in the number of graduates in 2020,” a source said. The unprecedented move by the state government of cancelling arrear exams for all students and subsequent court cases delayed arrear exams by at least five months.

The university conducted only the final semester exams and arrear exams in final semester for passed out students in September 2020. While 1,14,767 students got their degrees in 2019, the number has come down by 29,520 in 2020. “The huge difference this year is because of the confusion surrounding the arrear exams. Next year, the number of students passing out will be more,” a senior professor said.

The university successfully conducted online arrear and semester exams for 4.5 lakh students in February. However, on a positive note, the number of PhD scholars has increased compared to 2016. While 1,507 students received their PhD degreesin 2016,the number hasincreased to 2,051in 2020.