Not just engineering, even BArch draws little interest

The Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) conducted the admissions process for B Arch courses from September 9 and released provisional allotment on November 12. A senior DoTE official said the rank list was prepared for 1,992 students after few rounds of online counselling. “However, only 1,024 students took admissions this year.After provisional allotment, 920 seats are still vacant in several institutions,” he said.

This year, 829 students were admitted in the general quota and the rest of 91 candidates got admissions in various reservation categories. In contrast, the number of vacant seats in 2019 was about 550, with around 1,200 students getting admission to B Arch courses, he said.

The record further revealed that except the two School of Architecture under the Anna University, the other 50-odd colleges that offer B Arch courses were not able to fill their fullquota of seats.

On the increase in the number of vacant seats in B Arch, Anna University’s former vice-chancellor E Balagurusamy said employment opportunities for the fresh B Arch students have declined drastically over the years. “The real estate sector slumped during the last five years, because of which the requirement of candidates who have completed architecture courses have reduced,” he said.

He also pointed out the number of colleges offering B Arch courses have also increased. Therefore, it was natural the vacancies have risen, he added.

Dr N Pasupathy, president, Association of University Teachers (AUT), said many real estate companies were hiring only those candidates who pass out of prominent institutions. “The candidates studied in small institutions that offer architecture course are forced to go for other jobs,” he said.