Takers for IITs dwindle, Mumbai experts say engineering has lost its allure

Highlight how it no longer has the prestige it earlier did, as students choose courses that offer better options

Blame it on tougher competition or lack of job opportunities after a degree, engineering institutes, including the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), are increasingly complaining about the declining demand for their courses. The fall in demand has also automatically reflected in the rising number of vacant seats in engineering institutes across the country.

Representational photo/HT

Many experts highlighted how an engineering degree no longer has the prestige it earlier did, and this could be one of the reasons for the declining number of JEE aspirants over the years. “Students are very clear about the institute they want, especially for the quality of education it imparts. If they don’t get a seat in a good institute of their choice, they’d rather choose something else more lucrative and interesting to do instead of struggle in an institute which cannot promise them the best education,” said Devang Khakkar, director of IIT-Bombay.

Some also felt the increasing level of difficulty of the JEE exams is another reason for the drop in demand for JEE. “Students prefer state-conducted Common Entrance Tests (CETs) compared to an all-India exam because that gives them a chance at engineering institutes closer home, and the level of difficulty is less compared to JEE,” said Pravin Tyagi, founder and director of Pace Junior Science Colleges.

Of the 10,988 seats in 23 IITs in 2017, the number of vacant seats stood at 121, up from 96 in 2016 and 50 the year before that. Similarly, 36% of the 1.31 lakh seats available in engineering institutes in Maharashtra had no takers in 2017-18. However, this lack in demand is limited to only certain branches of engineering, said another head of an engineering institute.

Colleges also said that some courses like electronics and telecommunications are losing popularity, leading to higher number of vacant seats for these courses. These courses account for the highest number of closures across the country, according to the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

“It’s not that engineering altogether is losing its sheen, but the fact that certain branches of engineering have become defunct over the years. Branches that do not promise steady jobs after the degree are seeing very few takers, whereas other branches are overflowing with applications,” said Dhiren Patel, director, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Matunga, Mumbai.

In December 2017, the AICTE announced that it might allow mergers of institutes, especially those struggling to fill vacant seats for some time. The decision has been welcomed by many, especially since the AICTE was previously planning to shut down institutes with zero enrolment in the past five years.