More engineering students for mock GATE test

[ganeshbala]

More engineering students for mock GATE test

With job prospects turning bleak, final year engineering students are turning to higher education, if the crowds that turned up to take a mock test of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) organised by a private institute that trains GATE aspirants on Sunday is any indication.

Gateforum that has been holding mock tests at the national level for the last five years saw a record 7,000 students taking the test for GATE 2010 against 4,000 for 2009 and 2,500 for 2008.

Aspirants for post-graduate and doctoral programmes in engineering offered by universities and premier institutes like IITs, IISc and NITs have to take GATE. For the next PG and doctoral programmes starting in 2010, there is likely to be a greater demand as more students have evinced interest in appearing for the test.

Vikas of Sathyabama Engineering College said: "In these days of recession, getting a good break is difficult. To secure my future I want to clear GATE exam." Chandan Kumar, director, Gateforum Educational Services Ltd, which also offers a coaching platform for GATE, said: "In 2008, 1.6 lakh students appeared for GATE across India.


In 2009 it was 1.82 lakh and in 2010 the numbers will go up with job opportunities becoming scarce." Many students look at GATE as a safety net, what with uncertain future looming over them.

Guru Prakash, a second year student of Velammal Engineering College, said: "There is no certainty that we will get a job once we finish the course. Having a good GATE score will help me in getting a decent break and is also a good backup plan." Besides Gateforum, which operates across 30 cities, there are a few others like ACE, TEA, Vidhya Lankar and Brilliant Tutorials (correspondence) that offer coaching for GATE.