In a worrying development in the state, 245 engineering colleges affiliated to Anna University have registered less than 25% pass percentage in the November 2018 semester examination. To make matters worse, 84 colleges have less than 11% pass percentage while six colleges have recorded zero percentage of students who passed.
These numbers were released by Anna University to highlight the academic performance of 481 non-autonomous colleges affiliated to it. According to multiple reports, only 31 private engineering colleges affiliated to the University managed to get a pass percentage of more than 60% while 74 colleges recorded single digit pass percentage. The performance by students this time around was poorer than the April examination where 396 colleges saw more than 25% pass percentage while 150 colleges registered above 50% pass percentage. Only two colleges saw a nil result.
According to ToI, these shocking results were a result of high standard question papers and tough evaluation.
But a retired faculty from the University has told TNIE, that it is the quality of education that must be blamed. “The education quality in majority of the private engineering colleges is decreasing day by day. As they are not able to enrol academically good students in their institutes, many colleges are compromising on their quality and providing admissions to below average students. All these factors ultimately have led to such poor results,” he said.
Career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi however says that the poor performance is due to dip in quality of students entering the colleges.
"Every year, the performance of engineering colleges is coming down due to dip in quality of students entering the colleges. In line with this trend, the results have come down this year as well," he told ToI. "Though the pass percentage is low, it will produce quality engineers," he added.
And while students struggle to pass their engineering exams, the number of registrations for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission (TNEA) crossed the one lakh mark on Thursday. The registration process, conducted by the Directorate of Technical Education, began on May 2. They will conduct counselling for 537 engineering colleges affiliated to Anna University, its constituent colleges and government colleges.