CHENNAI: The number of postgraduate assistantships offered to students in government engineering colleges under the Higher Education Department has increased by nearly 50% in the past 4 years.

The financial support is provided to non GATE students admitted to ME and MTech programmes in State-owned engineering colleges through the single window counselling process conducted by Anna University and the Directorate of Technical Education.

A senior official in the department said, “Tthe number of beneficiaries had increased from 666 in 2022 to 986 in 2025. The assistance is remitted every month directly into the students’ Aadhaar-linked nationalised bank accounts through ECS. The number of beneficiaries is expected to exceed 1,000 in 2026.”