Date:19/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/19/stories/2008041950920200.htm

Kerala - Kochi

Engineering seats go abegging

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: About 1,670 engineering seats out of 26,430 in 87 colleges remained vacant in the State during 2007, according to the study by the nodal centre of the National Technical Manpower Information System at the Cochin University of Science and Technology.

The intake of engineering courses showed an increasing trend.

Electronics and Communication programme recorded the highest intake with 6,000 students followed by Computer Science (4,863).

The study found that the number of engineering colleges has gone up from 16 in 1995 to 87 in 2004. About 12,800 engineering graduates passed out in 2006 against 2280 in 1991.

The number of graduates that passed out in each stream in 2006: Electronics (3,611); Computer Science (2,798); Electrical and Electronics (1,684); Information Technology (1,401); Mechanical (1,390); Civil engineering (630).

Majority of the engineering graduates who passed out in 2003 got absorbed in the employment market within two years.

The study recommended that academic programmes could be restructured with increase in intake for courses of demand and restricting the seats for courses less in demand.