Electrical Engineering Desired at IITs, say Modern Style

For several years, Information Technology was the first choice for most students who had achieved a high ranking in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). Now, trends in the technical education sector have seen a major shift, with students preferring to choose electricalengineering over computer science.

The shift of students' choices from computer science to electrical engineering can be attributed to the fading appeal of the IT sector. This year, Electrical Engineering opened at All India Rank (AIR) 1 and closed at rank 98. On the contrary, computer science closed at rank 116.

An IIT faculty member said that the trend will soon emerge in all IITs. "Telecommunications is at an equal position as computer science. And now, electricalengineering is at par with computer science. After that, most students opt for Mechanical Engineering," he said.

Even though computer science attracted a lot IIT-JEE toppers this year, around 25 percent of the top 100 tankers opted for electrical engineering even when they could have easily gotten a seat in computer science.

Pure sciences have also appealed to several of the top rankers. 33 all-India rankers signed up for physics at IIT-Kanpur. Also, engineering physics witnessed more popularity than last year, opening at rank 48 at IIT-Bombay. At IIT-Chennai, the admission for engineering physics was opened at rank 494, compared to opening at rank 832 last year.

According to statistics of the opening and closing ranks of candidates admitted into IITs in August 2010, mechanical engineering also has been gradually gaining popularity among students. On the contrary, subjects such as chemical engineering and civil engineering do not have many takers.

A dean at IIT-Chennai explained that the number of students for certain subjects at the IITs must not be taken as a sign for their declining preference among aspirants.