Colleges can't add BE seats during admissions: Govt
The government has decided to stop engineering colleges from
adding seats to the counselling system once admission process begins.
In a letter to the commissioner of technical education, principal secretary of higher
education R. Kannan said, Approvals of additional intakes received during counselling
need not be entertained for inclusion in counseling from next year.
Nearly 50,000 engineering seats in the government quota remained vacant at the end
of the single-window counselling this year, six times more than in 2010 when 8,
172 seats had no takers. When the numbers were released at the end of the counselling
session, shocked academics and education consultants said it was time the government
focused on quality rather than number of seats to improve the employability of engineering
graduates. The current rate of employability is less than 25%.
New engineering colleges and existing colleges that seek approval for additional
intake cannot surrender seats after counselling begins, Kannan said. His letter
has also made it clear that college managements cannot fill up the government quota
seats on their own. College scan only use them to admit students who apply for seats
in the government quota through lateral entry in the second year.
The government has given colleges a free rein when it comes to management seats.
The management may fill up their quota and run the batch with reduced intake, the
letter said. In the current system, all self-financing colleges are required to
surrender 65% of their seats to the single-window counselling. Minority institutions
must give 50% of seats while Anna University and other government-aided colleges
make all their seats available.
Kannan has also asked the commissioner of technical education to write to the All
India Council for Technical Education to ask them to give all the approvals for
the year before the counselling session begins and none after the admission season
begins.
Courtesy: Times of India
