Placements, job fairs for final year students in TN government colleges to be delayed this year

With the last semester exams having been indefinitely postponed for final year students in all the State-run universities in Tamil Nadu, placements are expected to be delayed this year.

The semester exams were slated to be held in December 2021 and were rescheduled to January 20, 2022, for enabling colleges to complete pending portions. Due to the third wave of Coronavirus, the exams were further postponed indefinitely.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department told DT Next that by this month the placement should have been started if the last semester exams for final year students in government and government-aided Engineering, Polytechnic, Arts and Science colleges was held between November-December last year.

He said since the second wave hit its peak only during the summer last year and therefore, the placement was held in January soon after the final year semester exams. Accordingly, of the qualified 3,324 in the state-run engineering colleges, a total of 2,060 students (62%) were placed in various reputed companies through campus recruitment.

Similarly, of the 16,300 qualified final year students in government polytechnic colleges, a total of 11,936 (73.22%) were placed. Likewise, about 12,000 students from Arts and Science colleges were also placed through job fairs.

"However, this year conducting both placement and job fairs would be delayed," he said adding that the government had already communicated this delay to all the companies, which are tied up with the Higher Education Department, to provide jobs for students.

Asserting that this year placement will be surely held, the official said "The dates and scheduling of placement and job fairs would be decided only after the exams, which would be followed by the results".

He said as nearly 2,000 members, including principals and placement officers, were already given training in various companies in a bid to facilitate the students to acquire employment opportunities. This year the number of students in government colleges, who will be getting jobs, would be increased compared to the previous year.