https://navhindtimes.in/no-takers-for-548-seats-in-state-engineering-colleges/
Panaji: As many as 548 seats in five engineering colleges in the state have no takers, just as the last round of admissions for the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) related courses in Goa, as conducted by the directorate of technical education ended on August 14. The 25 per cent hike in the number of seats under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category, in all professional courses, as well as the fear psychosis spread among the students and their parents, due to the closure of some industries – especially in the automobile sector – are found to be the main reasons for this scenario. Citing reason for almost 35 per cent of the engineering seats available in the five engineering colleges in Goa remaining vacant, deputy director of technical education Pradip Kusnur told ‘The Navhind Times’ that some seats in local engineering colleges were left vacant during the past few years. However, the number of seats that have remained unfilled is far more this year. “The jump in this number is due to the 25 per cent rise in EWS category seats,” Kusnur added, pointing out that although the seats have increased, the population of the students as well as the number of candidates applying for these seats, is stable. “The total number of seats in the five local engineering institutes has gone up this year, from approximately 1,200 to 1,600,” he added. The Goa College of Engineering (GCE), Farmagudi; the Rayeshwar Institute of Engineering and Information Technology (RIEIT), Shiroda; the Don Bosco College of Engineering, Fatorda; the Padre Conceição College of Engineering (PCCE), Verna, and the Agnel Institute of Technology and Design, Assagao are the five engineering colleges for which admissions were conducted by the directorate of technical education. The RIEIT has 202 seats vacant, the Fatorda-based engineering college has 136 seats unclaimed, the PCCE has 120 unfilled seats, and the Agnel Institute has 90 seats yet to be filled. The Goa College of Engineering, which is the state-run institute with subsidised fees, is the top favourite amongst students, with students admitted on all of its seats, this year. The other three colleges, Indian Institute of Technology-Goa (IIT-Goa), the National Institute of Technology-Goa (NIT-Goa) and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS Pilani) Goa Campus are the other engineering colleges in Goa. They have their own admission system at all India level. Meanwhile, principal of Goa College of Engineering Dr Krupashankar M S said that the reason for students moving away from engineering courses is the bold headlines on newspapers such as Tata Motors is closing, TVS is closing, and everybody is running short of orders. “In fact, the parents are telling me that they are looking at alternative professions for their children, may be they want their children to pursue other professions than engineering,” The GEC principal informed this daily, pointing out, “Although there is no reason for panic, there is panic and we cannot convince the parents.” Maintaining that the engineering-jobs related situation is not as bad as it is made out to be on the all India level, Dr Krupashankar said that the general perception as regards only 15 per cent of the engineering graduates being employable, is incorrect. “Giving example of the GCE itself, I can tell you that last year, 224 job offers were made, while yesterday alone 38 civil engineering students were selected from the college, following their interview,” he informed, maintaining that there are engineering jobs available in certain sectors and in certain areas, and so we have to look at the sectors that are opening up and not get worried about only automobile sector or any other particular sector closing down. Speaking further the GCE principal observed that so many opportunities are coming up for the engineering graduates. “The other day we had people coming from Accenture and they were saying that across India they are going to hire two lakh people,” he stated, adding that Accenture wanted to hire at least 30-40 students from the GCE, under its Pan India hiring activity. Incidentally, some parents told this daily that the private engineering colleges in Goa, running with nonsubsidised fees, have made them rethink on sending their children to such institutes. “After investing so heavily, up to Rs 1.5 lakh per year, for four to five years, we have no guarantee that our children will get a suitable job,” they maintained. ======= Naguesh Bhatcar
