Tamilnadu to have 11 new engineering colleges distributed across the state

Updated on: Friday, May 17, 2013

Tamil Nadu is set to get 11 new engineering colleges this year. The state is already home to more than 520 engineering colleges, a handful of which did not fill any seats in the last academic year. The new colleges will also be affiliated to Anna University.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Anna University vice-chancellor in charge P Kaliraj said that each of the 11 colleges will have 300 seats in various engineering disciplines, adding another 3,300 seats to a tally of 2.68 lakh existing seats. The colleges were distributed across the state, Kaliraj said.

By the end of the admission process last year, 1,27,150 government quota engineering seats were filled through the single window counseling system, leaving 55,000 seats vacant. Experts following trends in industry said more than 70,000 seats, including management seats, went vacant in engineering colleges across the state in the 2012-13 academic year.

Mentioning the poor pass rate of engineering students in the first year, Kaliraj said most of the students had failed in mathematics. "We find that the Class 11 math syllabus has some connection to the fundamental mathematics subject that all engineering students are required to take in the first year. When students skip the Class 11 maths portions to focus on the Class 12 portions in an attempt to score high marks in the board exams they struggle to cope with the math syllabus in college," Kaliraj said.

To help students brush up on school maths and to set the tone for maths in engineering, the university has decided to start a bridge course for all students. Kaliraj said the course syllabus would be put up on the university website so students could start preparing before college reopens.

Tamilnadu to have 11 new engineering colleges distributed across the state

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