The matrix of popularity in Tamil Nadu’s engineering courses Premium

This year, 65.08% of the 1,44,630 engineering seats in Tamil Nadu were filled through DoTE's single window counselling. CSE remains the most preferred course, followed by ECE, AI and DS. Poor admissions point to lack of quality, infrastructure and faculty. Colleges in Chennai and Coimbatore had no difficulty in filling their seats, but lower rung colleges struggled. Social media presence and alumni networking help colleges gain preference. Recruitment drives preference for courses, with CSE, ECE, IT, AI, DS, EEE, EIE, Mech & Civil being chosen. Hiring freeze & planned recruiting slowdowns may create uncertainty for college students. More students from govt schools admitted this year, autonomous colleges go the extra mile to improve facilities.

This year, a large number seats were allotted through the single window counselling conducted by the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) for seats in engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu. As many as 65.08% seats were filled, as compared to last year when only 59.90% sets were taken. Of the 1,44,630 seats that were available for counselling by DoTE, a total of 94,122 were filled. This is an indication that engineering courses continue to remain a favourite among students.   

There were not, however, too many surprises during the counselling process this year. As has been the case over the past decade, computer science and engineering (CSE) is the most preferred course. At Anna University’s College of Engineering, as many as 30 candidates in the Backward Class (BC) and Open Category (OC) with full marks, have chosen CSE.

Similarly, the cut-off for electronics and communications engineering (ECE) in the OC category has been 200. A total of 102 candidates obtained the full cut off mark of 200, as per data released by the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) 2023 committee. 

The toppers’ choice of subjects invariably dictates how students with lower cut-off marks, will choose. So, even in the second round and third round of TNEA counselling, there was a noticeable bias for CSE and circuit-related courses. This however, say education experts, is a concerning trend, as when these students graduate in four years’ time, they may not get the jobs they have studied for, as hiring has slowed down.

It is unclear how students make their choice of the subject though, say education consultants. Most students, and parents, choose based on what they perceive is the choice of their peers and the enduring charm for CSE continues. 

An analysis of the seats taken shows that a handful of institutions, namely the autonomous Anna University department at the MIT campus, Chromepet; the non-autonomous Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI) Karaikudi and the non-autonomous PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research; the Government College of Technology, Coimbatore; Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology, Chennai; Government College of Engineering, Srirangam; the Government Institute of Technology, Vellore; Anna University’s regional campus in Coimbatore; the Government College of Engineering, Tirunelveli; Government College of Engineering (Formerly Institute of Road and Transport Technology), Erode and Kongunadu College of Engineering and Technology, managed to fill 100% of their seats after the three rounds of counselling and the conversion of SC seats.  

In the current year, over 120 colleges filled above 90% of their seats. However, except for a handful of colleges, the average cut-off for most of these institutions has hovered around 130 marks.