Publication: The Times Of India Kochi;Date: May 11, 2013;Section: Times City;Page: 2

Dads courses make a comeback

Applied Electronics & IT Take A Backseat, Traditional Courses
Like BA English, BCom Back In Reckoning With Civil &
Mechanical Courses
K P Sai Kiran | TNN

When the IT bubble burst, it also ended many dreams in the engineering education sector. The uncertainty in the
industry and outsourcing business has dampened the charm of IT. So more students, who have completed their plus two
and seeking an engineering career, tend to choose mechanical and civil branches now, signalling a clear role reversal.
There are 51, 000-plus seats in the engineering sector in the state excluding the additional 5, 000 seats that were
sanctioned this year. In the government sector, there are 12 colleges with 4,553 seats while there are 7, 000 seats in the
25 government-controlled self-financing colleges. Remaining engineering seats are in the private self-financing colleges.
According to last years trend, information t e ch n o l o g y a n d ap p l i e d e l e c t ro n i c s branches are the ones
with the least demand among students. Because of this many engineering colleges have already closed down these
branches of engineering. Last year, close to 50% of IT seats and 55% of applied electronics seats remained vacant in
Keralas colleges.
Compared to these, while only 22% seats were left vacant for civil branch, in mechanical engineering, only 11%
remained vacant. Among other main branches of engineering, while almost 42% of seats were vacant for electrical
engineering, 30% seats each were vacant for electronics and computer science.
The figures are accurate to a large extent as this has been reached after analyzing the seats from 80% of the colleges
after last years admissions, government sources said.
B Arch course has suddenly become popular among students and they are vying for the 600 odd-seats for the course,
including the 160 ones in government and government-aided colleges.
In the medical sector, there are 2, 500 MBBS seats, out of which 900 seats are available in the government sector. The
remaining seats are spread over two cooperative medical colleges, one self-financing medical college and one deemed
university. Unlike engineering courses where 18,000 seats were vacant last year, almost all medical seats were full.
Among the conventional courses like the BA, BSc and B Com, most of the students preferred B Com courses including
taxation, which has better job prospects. BA English and BA Economics courses also have many takers while in BSc, the
supremacy of Physics still continues. There are 41 government arts and science colleges in the government sector alone
and 178 government-aided private colleges.
Harsh reality
Civil and mechanical branches fared better last year with students almost filling the available seat capacity. Among other
main branches of engineering, almost 42% of seats were vacant for electrical engineering course while almost 30% seats
each were vacant for electronics and computer science branches