| Saturday, July 05, 2008
Civil engg in merely 30% TN colleges
Chennai: It may be an exciting career option considering the
boom in the infrastructure, energy and construction sector,
but as far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, civil engineering is
still perceived as a poor career option by BE/B.Tech aspirants.
An analysis of the courses offered in the 272 engineering colleges
in Tamil Nadu reveals that less than 30% of institutions offer
civil engineering.
To be precise, just 81 of the 272 colleges in the government,
aided and self-financing sectors offer civil engineering courses
for undergraduates, as per statistics released by the All India
Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on June 30.
This mismatch between potential demand and supply has clearly
emerged due to the manner in which industry has evolved, say
experts. Following the growth of the software sector since the
mid-90's, self-financing colleges had slashed their intake in
civil engineering and instead applied to the AICTE to increase
student strength in the more popular courses.
The most favoured options soon became Electronics and Communication
Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Computer
Science Engineering. Students, aware of the boom in cities such
as Bangalore and Pune, want admissions to software courses,
hoping to land plum jobs in IT and IT Enabled Services companies.
Today, there are just 4,265 seats in BE Civil Engineering in
the 81 colleges, all put together. "Here again, if you
notice, only three institutions —- Kongu Engineering College,
St Peter's Engineering College (which has since become a deemed
university) and the Kanyakumari-based Sun College of Engineering
and Technology — are offering 120 seats in the branch.
On the other hand, as many as 20 colleges have just 30 seats
each in civil engineering," pointed out an academic.
A students' intake of 60 is usually considered the full strength
for a class. But only 49 colleges have this intake in civil
engineering. While eight colleges have an intake of 40 students
each, one institution admits 45 students.
A students' intake of 60 is usually considered the full strength
for a class. But only 49 colleges have this intake in civil
engineering. While eight colleges have an intake of 40 students
each, one institution admits 45 students.
Interestingly, the Madha Engineering College based in suburban
Chennai is the first to sense the change in the industry scenario
and increase its intake for the civil engineering course from
30 students last year to 60 for the new academic year. In contrast,
almost all the other colleges prefer to continue offering courses
in IT and software with most showing an intake of 60 in each
class.
"This is a very sad scenario. The information technology
sector has witnessed a second slowdown in the last five years
and therefore is not reliable. Whereas, in a country like India
where infrastructure development has just begun students who
opt for civil engineering will have a secure future. Therefore,
they must apply their mind while choosing a course instead of
following a trend," argued a professor of Anna University,
who did not want to be named.
Courtesy: The Times of India
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