The parents of missing Burwood East man Tej Chitnis only recently discovered that their son had not attended classes at Deakin University for up to two years before he vanished on April 27.

It is understood that detectives investigating the disappearance of the popular 21-year-old had found he had been absent from a health science course at Deakin's Geelong campus since 2014.

Tej Chitnis' car seen on the Maroondah Highway, Healesville, on the day he disappeared from his home in Burwood. Credit:Victoria Police

Tej is believed to have planned to study medicine at Monash University, but had failed to graduate from Deakin and would not have been able to transfer.