AP engineering colleges staring at empty classes

AP engineering colleges staring at empty classes!

HYDERABAD : There are not many takers for the state’s engineering colleges with just about 99,000 of the 1.42 lakh students who got admission in the first round of counselling actually joining the colleges as on Tuesday. This would mean that out of 1.82 lakh engineering seats on offer in the convener (merit) quota, only 54 per cent have been filled so far. Officials now speculate that with 46 per cent of the total number of merit seats lying vacant even at the fag end of the first phase of engineering counselling, several engineering colleges might have to shut shop.

Last year, at the end of the first phase of counselling only 4,630 seats of 1.5 lakh seats on offer were left vacant. If there were 654 colleges last year, there are 692 now and the number of seats have gone up by 30,000.

Officials blame poor quality of technical education in the state as the key reason for so many seats to have remained vacant even as they note that many students have taken admission in engineering colleges of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, giving AP a miss. Analysts note that the ‘T’ trouble brewing in the state is another factor that has led to this brain drain from AP.

Engineering colleges in the state are turning to desperate measures to fill their seats. Sources note that several college managements have commissioned agents who would tamper with web counselling forms. According to officials of Andhra Pradesh State Council of Technical Education ( APSCHE), several students were duped by agents who deliberately changed their choice of preferred college in the web form. Officials said that agents are making a neat Rs 5,000 for every seat they are managing to fill in the college that has appointed them.

Source: Times of India