The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Major slump in engineering applications

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Thursday, Mar 17, 2011
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Major slump in engineering applications

Special Correspondent

Marginal increase for medical, agriculture courses

Parents in Telangana more worried than parents from other parts, says correspondent
Confusion over fee reimbursement scheme, less scope for employment among several factors

HYDERABAD: Engineering colleges may suffer from admissions this year with the applications for the EAMCET-2011 dropping by about 78,000 compared to previous year. However, applications for the medical and agriculture courses increased by over 2,000.

On the last day of the submission of application forms without penal fee on Wednesday, 2,51,013 candidates applied for engineering courses while 56,331 candidates applied for the medical stream. Last year, the number was 3,28,945 for engineering and 54,585 for the medical courses. The numbers might see variation by a few more thousands as the last date to apply with penal fee exists for more than a month.

Applications

This year, 3,25,296 applications were sold so far of which 2,63,001 were of engineering and the remaining 62,295 medical courses.

Some of these candidates might submit later with penal fee. Interestingly, about 20,000 candidates who apply also stay away from the exam due to various factors.

Last year, 3,86,469 applications were sold, according to the EAMCET-2011 Convenor N.V. Ramana Rao.

Telangana factor

College correspondents do not deny the Telangana agitation factor and said this can be confirmed only after going through the applications sent from different regions.

“With the academic calendar and schedule repeatedly disrupted last year due to the agitation and fear of losing the academic year, several parents might have decided to opt for courses in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that are free of major agitations,” says N. Ramesh, Chairman of Consortium of A.P. Professional and Engineering College Managements Association.

In fact, another correspondent claimed that parents of Telangana region were more worried than parents from other parts.

Unlike previous years, Hyderabad is not the only option for Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra students with good colleges also established there in the last few years.

Confusion

Officials said they did not expect such a huge drop in the engineering stream and this could also be perhaps linked to confusion over the fee reimbursement scheme.

The controversy over the scheme and confusion whether it would continue next year perhaps made students think twice.

Disinterest

Other factors like possible increase in the fee structure and quality of engineering education offered here perhaps played on students' minds.

Another factor, officials say, could be the growing disinterest for engineering education.

The huge pool of available engineering students in the market and not more than 25 per cent of them actually gaining the right employment could be one of the reasons.

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