Representative Image of a school classroom.
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Bengaluru: State-run and aided colleges will offer discounts for engineering courses such as mechanical and civil that have fallen out of favour among students due to skyrocketing demand for IT-related streams.
Even private colleges can join the special initiative, said Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudhakar. But, he added, private institutions should coordinate with the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) before the commencement of the mock allotment of seats.
This issue was discussed during a meeting with the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association (KUPECA) to fix the fees for the engineering courses for the year 2025-26 on Friday.
"There are streams which have lost demand for the last few years. That includes civil, mechanical, automobile etc. They are conventional ones and we should not allow them to disappear," said Sudhakar.
Considering the number of seats lying vacant in such streams, Sudhakar said, it was discussed in the meeting to bring in some measures to attract admissions. "We have not yet finalised the percentage of fee discount. That we will announce before the commencement of the counselling," Sudhakar added.
According to the placement officers at engineering colleges, the boom in computer science and other IT-related courses has affected demand in core areas such as civil, mechanical and automobile.
"We should not let the core engineering areas to die. Even if the packages are less, students should be encouraged to take up those streams," said a placement officer of one of the private engineering colleges.
Following a lack of demand, some colleges even closed down the civil, mechanical, electrical and automobile streams.
"When look at the vacancies of seats in the last few years, these core areas have contributed more with high number of seats left vacant in these streams," Sudhakar added.
The existing fee at government colleges is Rs 48,000. "Even if we reduce the fee by 10%, it will be an advantage for students," said an official from the KEA.