Number of Seats Up To 1.2 Lakh, Applicants Number Down To 1.42 Lakh
Admission to engineering colleges in the state through single
window counseling, beginning on July 8, in Tamil Nadu is likely to be
less stressful this year, thanks to the narrowing of the gap between the number
of applicants and the seats available. While the availability has increased by 5,000
seats over last years 1,20,000, the number of applicants has come down to 1,42,775
from 1,67,406 in 2010.
Setting in motion the random number-generation for applicants on Monday, 20th June,
minister for higher education P Palaniappan said the number of seats increased to
1,25,000 with the addition of eight new engineering colleges in 2011 taking the
total to 494. Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions secretary V. Rhymend Uthariaraj said:
By the time of granting approvals to colleges is over this year we expect an addition
of 11 colleges. Kalaivani Gothandaraman, a second year computer science student
who tried to get an Information Technology seat through the single window counseling
system in 2010, said, I remember waiting anxiously for the first list. When I didn't
find my name I decided not to wait any longer and asked my parents to try for a
management seat. She eventually secured a management seat in a self-financing college.
Last year, around 2 lakh applications were sold; this year it is 1,63,509. Of these,
only 1.2 lakh will turn up for the counseling. Professor Rhymend said, the number
of applicants is less this year. We feel the reason is because only those serious
about pursuing engineering have applied. So we do not expect too many students to
absent themselves from the counseling process this year.
While counseling for the 1,42,775 students in the general category will begin on
July 8,3,457 applicants under the sports quota will go through the process on June
30, while the counseling for 5,578 vocational candidates will be held from July
1 to 7. The process for 464 students under the differently abled category will be
held on July 7. The rank list will be published on June 24 and sports quota verification
done on June 28 and 29. While 51,462 engineering seats went vacant in 2009, last
year the number was 31,000. Minister Palaniappan said that as per the state's decision
to merge the four Anna Universities of Technology in various districts, counseling
would be conducted only at Anna University, Chennai.
Eleven colleges will offer civil engineering and 12 will offer mechanical engineering
courses in Tamil medium this year.
Courtesy: Times of India
