Failing to pass muster

Nearly half of the engineering students of Anna University’s affiliated colleges who appeared in the November-December 2014 semester exams have failed.

As many as 205 colleges registered a pass percentage of less than 40, against 118 colleges in April-May 2014 semester exam.

In 58 colleges, the pass percentage is less than 20 per cent and in 18 colleges, it is in single digit.

The performance of the colleges is available on the university website.

The results, however, are not a measure of ranking colleges, as the list includes new colleges and those that are moving over to autonomy, say Anna University officials. For instance, St. John’s College of Engineering and Technology for Women is ranked last at 523. Only two students appeared and both failed. Invariably, most of these colleges with single digit pass percentage are in backward districts where engineering education was a late entrant.

However, there are quite a few surprises too. The PSG Institute of Technology, which bagged the first rank, was launched only last year. “It had the advantage of admitting meritorious students and the number of students taking the test was only around 300,” says a university official. Only five students in the institute have failed. “Even this failure is a surprise to us,” says a faculty of the institute.

A lesser known institution located in the hinterland, Ramco Institute of Technology in Rajapalayam, has improved its ranking from eighth place to fifth place.

Sri Sairam Engineering College, SSN Engineering College, Prince Shri Venkateshwara Padmavathy Engineering College and Meenakshi Sundararajan Engineering College, all located in Chennai and its outskirts, are in the top ten.

Meanwhile, more engineering colleges are likely to get autonomous status. The first four ranked colleges in the April–May 2014 have gained the status. When a college is moving towards autonomy only students in the higher semesters would be affiliated to the Anna University, say officials indicating that the ranking was not the true marker of excellence in engineering education.