Anna University students piece together BTech courses as faculty gaps lead to fragmented teaching

Anna University Chennai: “In some subjects, teaching is focused on completing what is assigned for that hour. But understanding does not happen in one hour,” said N Keerthana, an electronics and communication engineering student.

At Anna University’s engineering programmes, students and faculty say a growing reliance on guest lecturers and shifting faculty structures is changing not whether teaching happens, but how it happens. Classes continue, syllabi are completed, but learning, particularly in core engineering subjects, is becoming more fragmented and self-driven, a shift students and faculty often attribute to a mix of faculty shortages caused by delays in appointments and the ongoing administrative uncertainties for the vice-chancellor role at the university.

“You can solve the equation and still not understand what it means for a real structure,” said Rithu, a civil engineering student. “In practice, every assumption affects safety. The real challenge is understanding how these calculations translate into real-world decisions, and that depends not just on what is taught, but on how consistently it is taught over time.”

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Engineering as a continuous system

“Across engineering programmes here, subjects are designed to build on one another,” said Anand B, an engineering student. “In mechanical, thermodynamics leads into fluid mechanics and then machine design. In civil, strength of materials forms the base for structural design, with environmental conditions shaping execution. In electronics, you move from basic circuits to integrated systems over semesters. It is only fair for students to have stable teaching when the subjects themselves are so interconnected.”

“It is all intertwined," said R Karthik, another third-year mechanical engineering student from Salem district who came to Chennai a few years ago. “If you miss clarity in one topic, it affects everything that follows.”

Students say this structure requires sustained engagement with a subject, where concepts are introduced, revisited, and applied over time. Engineering, they say, cannot be learnt in isolated segments. However, that’s exactly how it is shaping up to be in Anna University.

BTech Courses: Teaching in fragments

In several departments, the shift is visible in how subjects are distributed across the semester.Instead of being anchored by a single faculty member, parts of a course are handled within limited teaching slots, often by different instructors. While this ensures that classes proceed without interruption, students say it changes how they engage with the subject.

“A guest lecturer may handle a portion of the syllabus, but may not be involved in assessments, lab work, or long-term mentoring,” said an assistant professor in an Anna University-affiliated engineering college. “Their role is largely confined to that segment.”

For students, the impact becomes clearer as the course progresses. “You follow what is being taught in that class,” said a student from Anna University’s Guindy campus. “But linking it to previous and upcoming topics is something you have to manage yourself.”

The disconnect is often felt most in application-based components. When theory, lab work, and evaluation are not tied by a single academic thread, students say the burden of integration shifts to them.

Over time, learning becomes less about being led through a subject and more about assembling it independently, piece by piece.

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BTech Engineering: Retirements, changing classroom

“As senior professors retire, departments adjust with the resources available,” said an assistant professor from Anna university, Guindy campus, who has occasionally gone as a guest lecturer to affiliated colleges. “That often includes redistributing courses or bringing in guest faculty.”

For existing faculty, this adjustment often translates into a different kind of workload. Subjects that were once handled end-to-end by a single professor are now split, reassigned, or managed alongside additional responsibilities. Teaching is accompanied by coordination, evaluation, and administrative work that continues to expand even as experienced hands reduce.

“You are not just teaching your subject anymore,” he said. “You are also filling gaps where needed.”

Younger faculty, in particular, say they are stepping into roles that would typically come with more experience. Handling multiple courses, aligning with lab schedules, and supporting student projects often happen simultaneously, with limited scope for sustained engagement in any one area. At the same time, the absence of senior faculty is felt in less visible ways.

K Raghavan (name changed), who retired after more than three decades of teaching civil engineering at Anna University, said experienced teachers often acted as anchors within departments, carrying subjects from foundational concepts to advanced application.

“There is a way a subject evolves in a classroom,” Raghavan said. “It is not just about completing topics. It is about how you build understanding over time.”

He added that this continuity extended beyond lectures into labs, evaluations, and project guidance, where students required repeated engagement to fully grasp concepts.

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Faculty members say that when this continuity is disturbed, the nature of teaching begins to shift.

“With fewer experienced hands, the time you can spend revisiting concepts or going deeper becomes limited,” said Rajeshwari, a faculty member in electronics engineering. “You focus on ensuring coverage, but depth depends on how much space the system allows.”

The result, faculty say, is not a breakdown of the system, but a gradual change in how teaching is experienced. Classrooms remain active, but the depth of engagement depends more on what can be sustained within shorter and more distributed interactions.

“It is a different pace now,” Rajeshwari said. “You keep the system running, but the way you teach within it changes.”

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BTech Courses: Projects and research

“In mechanical engineering, projects can involve building and testing thermal systems or designing components that withstand stress and fatigue. In civil engineering, they focus on structural design, soil analysis, and modelling load-bearing systems under real-world conditions. In electronics, students work on embedded systems and circuit-based applications that require integration across concepts,” said a faculty member.

“You are expected to take an idea and make it work,” said a final-year mechanical engineering student. “That involves design, testing, failure, and redesign.”

Students say this process depends on continuous academic guidance. Projects evolve over months, moving from proposal to execution, with each stage requiring feedback and correction. “If different people guide you at different points, you lose that continuity,” the student said, recounting his own experience. “Someone needs to understand your project from the beginning.”

In civil engineering, where precision is critical, that gap can be significant. “A small mistake in understanding load calculations or material behaviour can affect the entire design,” said a student working on a structural project. “You need guidance at every step.”

In her case, a mistake in calculations was caught not during formal guidance, but by peers. “My friends and I usually review each other’s work, that’s normal in projects,” she said. “But this time, we had to keep going back again and again to check for mistakes because we weren’t fully sure at any stage.” She said that while peer support helped, it also reflected a larger gap. “Different faculty guided us at different points, so no one was consistently tracking the project,” she said. “You end up double-checking everything yourself, because the margin for error is very small.”

Faculty members note that supervision involves more than evaluating final outputs. It requires sustained interaction as students test ideas and encounter practical challenges.

“Students come back with problems after simulations or trials,” said the assistant professor. “Those discussions are where real learning happens.”

Gaps are increasingly addressed outside campus.“In college, we get the structure,” said a second-year civil engineering student. “For deeper understanding, we go to tuition.”

Parents link this trend to expectations from the university. “Students go to tuitions and coaching centres for strong teaching in engineering,” said M Tamizh, whose son studied at Anna University. “That foundation is important.”

The piecemeal form of teaching and guidance extends to even research programmes. “A PhD is built over time,” said M. Divya (name changed), a biotechnology research scholar who described stretches in her research where guidance came in fragments, requiring her to approach different faculty members for specific inputs “You are refining a problem continuously.”

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Engineering: A system in transition

Alumni say continuity in teaching once defined the university’s engineering programmes.

“When we studied, professors would take a subject from beginning to end and connect it to real applications,” said Arun, who graduated in 2012. “That is how you learnt to think like an engineer. There’s always that running joke: you study one branch of engineering and end up working in something completely different. But even then, your fundamentals are what you fall back on.”

At Anna University, classrooms remain active and academic schedules continue. Yet within engineering programmes, students say the experience of learning is gradually changing.

“You can complete the syllabus,” said Mahithi. “But becoming an engineer depends on how deeply you understand it.”