84,812 candidates out of 1,17,846 get admission through TNEA counselling

At the end of the month-long exercise, 84,812 candidates out of 1,17,846 were allotted seats under the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission (TNEA) committee’s single-window counselling process.

The committee had called for candidates to apply for supplementary counselling and the deadline ended on Sunday evening. Engineering education observers say over 50,000 seats will remain vacant this year as well. It is not just private colleges in remote locations but even government engineering colleges that are unable to fill seats.

Only 12 colleges have filled all seats, including three self-financing institutions, and 236 have managed to fill 50% of their seats. Also, as many as 13 institutions did not fill even one seat.

University colleges in Villupuram, Arni, Tindivanam and even Kancheepuram, a district that abuts Chennai and with proximity to industries, have also faced rejection. These colleges did better last year comparatively. The number of vacancies even in circuitry branches is high. The number of those admitted under the preferential quota for government school students was slightly lower at 89.02%.

Colleges that fill seats in the first two rounds do so because of their quality, said P.S. Srinivasan, an engineering educator. “As we do well in placement we get good number of candidates,” he said. If colleges manage to fill as much as 70% of their sanctioned intake then it would be branded as a good institution, say academicians.

Aswin Ramaswamy, a career guidance expert and an analyst, pointed out that it was also about how much exposure a student received while in college. “Students take up engineering courses for exposure and placement. The academic performance of Anna University’s affiliated colleges is lower whereas private colleges are doing better. Pass percentage is directly proportional to placement,” he said. It would help Anna University to establish a training and placement wing in each of its college to train students in basic problem solving and coding, he opined.