Pointing to the declining interest in core engineering branches, Computer Science Engineering (CSE) has yet again emerged as the hot favourite among students in Telangana — 94.20% of seats have been occupied in the first phase admissions.
There was poor response to the core branches like Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Electrical Engineering where not more than 44% of seats were taken. Electronics-related courses were relatively better off with 80% of available seats finding takers. Computer Science-related courses have the highest number of seats as well.
Of the 55,876 seats in CSE and IT-related courses, 52,637 seats have been filled and just 3,239 seats are vacant, mostly in rural colleges or ones that barely maintain standards. Six of the Computer Science related courses including Artificial Intelligence, Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Business Systems, IoT, and Cyber Security including Block Chain, CSE (Networks) have recorded 100% seat allotment.
In the regular CSE course, which is the most sought-after by students, 23,162 of the 23,467 seats have been filled, registering 98.70% allotment. Colleges have been pushing to increase their seats in CSE-related courses for the past two years, considering the increasing demand. The reason, they say, is employment opportunities that the courses throw up to students.
“With Hyderabad emerging as the destination for major IT companies apart from startups, students see this stream as the most lucrative,” says correspondent of Stanley Women’s Engineering College Krishna Rao. Several girl students have shown preference for CSE over other branches, as expected. Another correspondent of a private college said students are seeking only Computer Science courses in management quota as well.
A decade ago, Mechanical Engineering was the first preference along with Electronics Engineering but its popularity is waning with just 38.50% out of the 3,701 seats taken. Civil Engineering, too, fared poorly with only 44.76% of the 4,064 seats preferred. However, Electronics and Communication Engineering programme is in a better position with 87.10% of the 11,913 seats allotted.
This year, 82,666 seats are available in 173 engineering colleges in Telangana. Officials said 31 colleges, including three university and 28 private colleges, secured 100% seat allocation.
