Less takers for viscom courses, classrooms half filled in many colleges in Chennai

CHENNAI: Visual Communication courses, once a top choice for students aspiring to enter the film and media industry, are now languishing with barely any takers. Many colleges are reporting half-filled classrooms.

Until around five years ago, competition was intense among students to secure seats in visual communication programmes. However, the situation has changed in recent years.

Particularly in Chennai, where several colleges offer this course, faculty members stated that even 50% of the available seats were not being filled. A professor from a reputed college said, “Only half of the 50 seats in our institution were filled last year. The number of applications for the course has also declined noticeably,” the professor added.

Speaking to DT Next, Santhosh Babu, principal, DG Vaishnav College, pointed out, “The ongoing stagnation in the media industry and its slow growth are key reasons behind the declining interest in visual communication and related courses.”

However, he also noted that popular colleges continued to receive a higher number of applications, with most seats being filled. “Even in these colleges, the level of competition has reduced compared to previous years,” he pointed out.

Sources from the University of Madras indicated that the revised syllabus for visual communication is perceived as more challenging. Additionally, certain software-oriented subjects included in the curriculum required colleges to invest in infrastructure and technology, which increased operational costs. As a result, some institutions are considering discontinuing the course.

Faculty members have also expressed concern that if student enrolment continued to decline, colleges may eventually shut down these departments, leading to job losses among the teaching staff in this field.