Out of the 13 constituent colleges of Anna University, as many as seven of them have not managed to fill even 50 per cent of their seats during the engineering counselling this year and worried over the scenario, the university is now planning for a merger of colleges.
Anna University has 13 constituent colleges, also known as the University College of Engineering (UCE), in interior areas of the state and has three regional campus colleges in Madurai, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli. Due to poor infrastructure and a shortage of faculty, the constituent colleges were losing their sheen year after year among students. However, this year's performance has been abysmally poor which has forced the university to look for a permanent solution to this problem, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
Poor enrollment
According to sources, the university has plans for a merger of the constituent colleges with poor enrollment and very soon, it will send a proposal to the higher education department in this regard. The varsity data reveals that in the last four years, not a single college out of the 16 (13 constituent colleges and three regional campuses) has managed to fill all 100 per cent of their seats. Only the regional campus colleges at Coimbatore and the University College of Engineering at Kancheepuram have managed to fill 90 per cent of their seats. The regional campus at Madurai has filled 84 per cent of its seats, followed by UCE Tiruchirappalli which stands at 83 per cent.
Similarly, the regional campus at Tirunelveli has 82 per cent enrollment followed by UCE Villupuram and UCE Nagercoil which has 73 per cent and 70 per cent enrollment respectively. UCE Tindivanam has filled only 55 per cent of its seats in the last four years while in UCE at Arni it is just 52 per cent. Similarly in the last four years, out of the total 1,620 seats in UCE, Panruti only 740 seats have been filled, while UCE Dindigul has managed to fill only 624 out of the total 1,620 seats. UCE, Thootukudi out of 1,560, has filled only 615 seats in the last four years. In Pudukkottai, out of a total 1,620, only 602 seats have been filled, while Ariyalur has managed to fill only 428 out of 1620 seats.
While Thirukkuvalai and Ramanathapuram are the worst performers as in the last four years, they have managed to fill 26 per cent and 22 per cent of their seats respectively. The figures are really worrying. "It is not wise to run BTech courses in constituent colleges for a handful of students. In comparison to the expenses incurred for the maintenance of the colleges, the earnings are negligible and these colleges are just adding to the burden of the university. It's difficult to sustain them," said a senior faculty member of the college, TNIE reported.
Merger proposal soon
Vice-Chancellor of the University, R Velraj said he is contemplating the merger of the colleges with low enrollment and will soon submit a proposal to the higher education department regarding this. "I need to discuss the scenario in detail with the higher education department. The merger of the constituent colleges is one of the solutions, but only after discussing with the higher education officials, I can get clarity as to how we can move ahead in this direction," said Velraj. He further added that the process has to be carried out very efficiently without affecting the morale of the students and faculty members in these colleges.
