Over 13,000 engineering seats added for counselling in Tamil Nadu this year-OxBig News Network

Engineering aspirants seeking admission to colleges in Tamil Nadu through the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) counselling will have 13,393 additional seats to choose from this academic year.

This increase has by and large been bolstered by the high demand for Computer Science-related courses, which accounted for an increase of close to 10,000 seats in the current academic year.

Courses like Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, Computer Science and Engineering, AI and Machine Learning, and Cyber Security have been growing in popularity over the years. However, Information Technology has been witnessing a downward trend compared to previous years, although 1,700-odd additional seats have been made available for counselling this year.

Dearth of faculty

This exponential increase in the intake for Computer Science-related courses in the past few years has opened up a crisis of sorts: dearth of trained faculty. “This could well result in the quality of teaching going down,” warned R. Ashwin, a career consultant.

According to data released by the Directorate of Technical Education, a total of 1,72,388 seats were available in 417 colleges for students to choose from during counselling. While there is an increase in the number of seats, at least 16 colleges would not be taking in students this year for various reasons, ranging from closure to blacklisting.

AI courses see uptick

A quick glance at the branch-wise data brings forth a noticeable trend: that the number of courses related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) has had an uptick while core engineering subjects are losing popularity among engineering aspirants.

Artificial Intelligence and Data Science enjoys the maximum upward trend in demand with 3,544 additional seats added this year, taking the total number of seats available to 20,857. In 2024, the branch had 5,320 additional seats compared to the previous year. Similarly, Computer Science and Engineering, too, has had an increase of over 2,200 seats this year when compared to last year. For Information Technology and Electronics and Communication Engineering, the increase in the number of seats this year is well above a thousand seats.

However, the number seats for core engineering subjects is going down. Civil Engineering seems to have fallen way down the pecking order for aspirants; this year, the branch will have 769 fewer seats compared to last year. Mechanical Engineering, too, will have 558 fewer seats this year. At least 22 colleges have stopped offering the Civil Engineering course, while 13 colleges have stopped offering Mechanical Engineering, data shows.