Web-counselling was introduced this year to help the students in the selection process, but it turned out to be a nemesis for many. Nearly 82,500 students gave the Eamcet counselling a miss. Out of the 2,42,406 students, called for counselling in the Eamcet engineering stream this year, only 1,59,866 turned up between July 28 and August 6, making it 65.94%.

Many students giving counselling a miss is a setback for the officials and college managements, who anticipated a rise in demand for engineering courses after the government announced the ‘fee reimbursement scheme’ extended to students from Economically Backward Classes (EBCs) apart from other reserved categories.

Higher Education Department officials played down the ‘absenteeism’ saying it was not new. The multiple rounds of personal counselling were replaced this year by web-based counselling.

“In 2006, the counselling attendance percentage was 68.80, in 2007 and 2008 it came down to 63.50 and 59.56% respectively. This year, it went up to 65.94%. So there is no need to panic,” said Prof K.C. Reddy, the chairman of the AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE).

Reddy revealed that there was a change in intake in around 20 colleges as they had opted for streams like EEE, ECE, Mechanical and Civil in place of IT.  “The academic calendar would not be disturbed despite the second phase of counselling,” he said, adding that the certificates verification would be held between September 20 and 25 for Eamcet engineering stream and seats would be allotted on Sept 30.

The APSCHE Chairman said that there was a huge demand for Electronics and Communication Engineering and Electrical and Electronics Engi-neering streams followed by Mechanical and Civil Engineering and students for IT and Computer Science courses had declined. “Most of the students are opting for JNTU, Hyderabad followed by Osmania University College of Engineering,” he revealed.

Educationists feel that many students dropped out realising that they stood no chance of making it to a good college or would have already got an admission under the management quota in self-financing colleges.

An official from education department, on condition of anonymity, pointed out that there was no clarity on web-counselling and the seats were not filled up in many newly-established colleges or institutions with poor academic track record and infrastructure. Over the past few years, a minimum of 10,000 seats had remained vacant in self-financing colleges, mostly in unpopular branches of study. He felt this year too, the trend would continue.

R Prasad, a parent of an engineering aspirant said that the web-counselling process had created anxious moments for students from Day One itself. The counselling at 50 centres across the State was hampered by slow connectivity and server problems and many higher ranked students did not turn up.

“Though our options were limited, earlier we could comfortably choose depending on various parameters but now despite large number of options various codes like college code, course code etc. created more confusion, especially for rural students,” said Krishna Swamy, another  parent. Though the new method gave enough time to think and choose, the students were not comfortable with the new system.

This year, Mechanical and Civil Engineering attracted a lot of meritorious students and the usual mad rush for IT courses was missing. Many preferred to join new colleges with credibility and experienced staff in the field of technical education. Many were also opting to wait for core sector jobs instead of IT.

“Many core companies have increased packages to match, or even top, the salaries offered in the IT sector, while many software recruiters have been stuck with the same salary offered last year,’’ says S. Mohamed Tajudeen, Placement Officer from an Engineering College.

None of our civil engineering students are opting for IT jobs and all have been placed in the infrastructure industry. Most of our mechanical and civil students were waiting for core industry recruiters,” Arun Ramaswamy, placement officer of another Engineering College, said.

“With the economic downturn, many Indian IT firms have pruned their mass hiring plans,” he said. Telecom, infrastructure, mining, power, construction, hospitality, healthcare, pharmacy and manufacturing design are some of the new sunrise industries, which are likely to boom when the present set of students join the job market, opined Suresh, who runs a job consultancy. “These sectors may keep growing despite the economic slowdown,” Suresh said placing his hopes on sectors like media, entertainment and travel.
 
K Rajendra Jain, principal of a college said: “The standard of teaching in science colleges should be improved all over the state for better results. If the results are good, the demand for BE seats would also increase. It is time to attract more students towards technical education.”

According to official estimates, over 11,555 seats are still available in the computer science engineering course in 174 colleges. Many opted for conventional engineering streams, including electronics and communication and mechanical engineering hoping career options remain till another five years. Aishwarya V, a top ranker, said that she preferred B.Tech Electronics and Communication which offered a wide range of job options.

Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University College of Engineering Prof D N Reddy said the demand for electronics and instrumentation, electrical and electronics and mechanical engineering is good. They continue to remain the hot favourites as a large number of openings are available in public sector. The demand for civil engineering is also steady despite the slowdown. Students feel that the sector would see a revival, he added.

Reasons

· Above 1, 00, 000 students, accepted the fact that they could not get seats in their interested branch and choice of college. They went in for management seats directly. Some of the students who could not afford took admission in degree courses.

· Some missed the race, in ignorance on how to go about web-counselling.

· Some students felt that if they submitted their certificates at the helpline centers, they may not get them back or they need to pay some cancellation charges to get back their certificates.

· Less demand for Computer and IT.

· Due to lack of awareness about scholarships sponsored by the Government, many students having scholarship availability also have not stepped in the process of web-counselling in fear to pay huge amount of LAB/LIBRARY/Hostel Fees.