WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

Dhanbad, Jan. 30: Indian School of Mines (ISM) is preparing to shed its core sector competence as the courses have failed to find favour among students clearing the IIT-JEE test.

The course in mining machinery engineering will be discontinued by the academic year 2007-08 as even reduction in the allocation of seats has failed to ensure hundred per cent occupancy. In 2005-06, only 14 students opted for the mineral engineering course, while 19 did so for mining machinery. The mining engineering course this year attracted only 46 students against a seat capacity of 60.

Of late, students have preferred to stay away from the three B. Tech courses catering to the mineral industry and have instead opted for computer and electronics engineering, which offer more lucrative and comfortable jobs. ISM, a deemed university on a par with the Indian institutes of technology, was integrated with the IIT-JEE system in 1997 and the three core sector departments have since failed to attract students.

The situation has been particularly bleak for the mining machinery department, as almost 50 per cent of the 40 seats on offer remained vacant in 2003-04. The next academic session saw the number of students dipping further.

To cope with the crisis, the number of seats available through IIT-JEE was slashed to 25 in 2005-06 but that also failed to ensure hundred per cent occupancy. The trend is somewhat similar for the other two core sector departments. In mining engineering, the vacancy for 2003-04 stood at 20 per cent of the total 75 seats, but the number climbed to 35 per cent the next academic year. The number of seats available through IIT-JEE was cut down to 60, but only 46 students are studying in the first year of the course.

The situation is much the same for even the mineral engineering course, which was by far the most popular of the core sector disciplines. It had a hundred per cent occupancy in 2003-04, following which the number of seats was increased to 36. But over 30 per cent of the seats remained vacant. In the current academic year, the course has only 14 students against a seat strength of 30.

What?s even more alarming, say sources in ISM, is that the students passing out of these courses often opt for jobs in information technology which not only pay better, but also offer more conducive ? and comfortable ?working conditions.