The course that made the President of India A P J Abdul Kalam a ‘Missile Man’ holds no fascination for either government-run or private colleges or students of the State.

Karnataka, which boasts of the headquarters of the ISRO and HAL, has only 14 aeronautical engineering seats to offer the students who cleared the CET this year. Amazingly, these seats aren’t in any college of the Knowledge City but in a private institution of a backward district, Gulbarga -- Khaja Banda Nawaz College of Engineering (KBNCE).

More interestingly, not a single student opted for this course ever after five days of the counselling even as the mad rush for electronics, computer science, information science, telecommunication, biotechnology and electricals continues.

CET Cell administrative officer Syed Jamaal admits that that KBNCE is the professional college associated with the Cell, which offers this course. Students this reporter spoke to — Raghavendra Prasad, N Ajeeth and Vishveshwar Naidu — say their first preference is electronics, information science and computer science “since it has vast scope compared with traditional courses like mechanical or electrical engineering”.

KBNCE authorities cl-aim they have the best infrastructure available. Says board member Noor Ahmed, “How could we ha-ve continued if we didn’t have the proper facilities? The AICTE would have cancelled our registration.”

“It’s an irony that students’ horizons are not expanding. They have just one target — to score better marks, get a seat through CET and then get a placement, that too in the place where they live,” Mr Ahmed says, blaming government policies “which make them so small-minded”.

“Students nowadays  don’t realise that other courses also can offer them attractive packages, but then these courses demand more effort from them”,   Shanthapriya, principal of Srinivas Engineering College,  Mangalore, says.