Chennai: Around 300 seats in the premier Anna University will lay vacant this year as the top ranking students preferred the MBBS and BDS courses over the engineering seats.
Of 259 students who had got the bonafide certificates from College of Engineering, Guindy to participate in medical counselling, 145 students quit the engineering courses. Around 100 students from Madras Institute of Technology and 45 students from Algappa College of Technology have opted for medical courses this year.
Sources in the Anna University said even some students from School of Architecture and Planning (SAP) in Anna University has quit the course for pursuing MBBS.
Compared to last year, the premier technical university will have around 100 more vacant seats due to the delay in medical counselling. These vacant seats could not be filled as the engineering counselling was conducted offline.
“In Anna University, we will have more vacant seats in the second and third phase of medical counselling. This year the numbers were more in the first phase itself as many top rankers have joined the engineering courses due to the confusion in the mode of admission,” sources said.
“Last year CEG had 136 vacancies and MIT had around 40 vacancies. This year on an average around 9 to 10% seats in the three university departments (CEG, MIT, and AC Tech) will remain vacant,” they added.
Due to the confusions over the NEET and delay in medical admissions, the engineering counselling was held ahead of the medical counselling.
Top officials in Anna University said they were expecting around 500 vacant seats in Anna University this year due to the delay in conducting the medical counselling. But, NEET based medical admissions has reduced the potential vacant seats in Anna University.
The MBBS general counselling which started on August 25 ended on Sunday.
“The counselling for government quota and management quota MBBS seats ended on Sunday. But the counselling for BDS course will end on next week,” officials from directorate of medical education said.
