Separate tests at engineering institutions in Telangana
Colleges can form consortium to hold tests
By : amar tejaswi
Update: 2015-07-11 01:55 GMT
Hyderabad: With students already confused as to when TS Eamcet counselling will begin, they may have to brace for another engineering test with several private engineering colleges looking at holding their own admission tests.
The government is also allowing private engineering colleges to go ahead with their own test and admissions under the Single Window (SW) 3 counselling process. However, the number of seats to be available under this parallel admission procedure is not yet decided.
Eamcet counselling procedure is carried out in SW 1, 2 and 3 formats. The conventional Eamcet counselling conducted by the government is SW 1 while minority colleges have their own separate counselling called the SW 2.
Private engineering colleges can form a consortium and conduct their own test under SW 3. Until now, nearly 20 private engineering colleges have decided to go for their own admission and counselling but several more have shown the intent. Convenors for individual tests for engineering and other graduate courses have also been named but are yet to be approved by the Telangana State Council of Higher Education.
However, the sticking point for many colleges thinking about joining the SW 3 scheme of admissions is the fees reimbursement scheme. Deputy Chief Minister, Kadiam Srihari has announced that the fee reimbursement will be applicable to students placed in the top 10,000 rank of the TS Eamcet and local to TS according to Article 371D of the Constitution.
But if colleges admit students through SW 3, they will not be eligible for fee reimbursement which would be a big loss. Not a single rupee has been released for the 2014-15 academic year though more than 11 lakh students were admitted through the scheme and engineering colleges are already in doldrums. Even students not getting fee reimbursement wouldn’t like to join such colleges.
The number of seats likely to be available is also not known yet. Several engineering colleges are still weighing their options and much will depend on the High Court division bench judgement on Monday.
But irrespective of the number of seats, a private engineering colleges’ consortium test will be held in all likelihood. Private medical colleges in both AP and TS also held their own entrance test for admission to Category B seats this year.