CHENNAI: Around 65% of students enroll in engineering courses out of parental compulsion and many had got admission despite low scores in physics and maths which are key subjects for engineering to determine aptitude. These are the findings of a study conducted by M-tutor, a private company that develops supplementing tools for educational learning.The study conducted across nearly 100 colleges in various states found that such students who had enrolled in engineering courses due to parental compulsion displayed a lack of interest in the field and did not have any long-term career goals. Such students experienced high peer pressure right from day one, it found.K V Nandita, a telecom engineering student, said that she had initially failed in Maths in her plus-two exam and had to re-appear for the exam before applying for an engineering seat. "My marks were not great but since nearly everyone in my class was taking up engineering, I wanted to get into engineering too," she said."We observed that in such cases, the parents also put pressure on institutions for placements. This in turn pressurizes the institutions to focus on a quantitative rather than a qualitative approach in their academic processes," said V Sundaramoorthy, managing director of M-tutor.The study also discerned a change in patterns of learning among students over the last decade. This included their focus being affected due to high levels of distortion because of exposure to digital mediums. The study also found that their ability to grasp concepts during a a classroom session and to take down notes had weakened. Most of them were hesitant to even express this shortcoming to their own classmates, it said."Learning dynamics have changed from subjective approach to examination approach. There is a lack of scientific tools to monitor the outcome of the learning imbibed by students and their interest in the concepts," said Sundaramoorthy.