The Hindu : TNAU counselling begins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 05, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

TNAU counselling begins

By Our Staff Reporter

Coimbatore July 4. Counselling for admissions to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University courses began on the Coimbatore campus today.

Out of 150 students called in the first batch, only 96 turned up.

There are a total of 2,595 applicants, who will be counselled in morning and evening batches, and the admission process on all TNAU campuses in the State is expected to be completed by July 20, for classes to commence on July 28.

The Vice-Chancellor, C. Ramasamy, said the admissions were for five regular courses — B.Sc. Agriculture, B.Sc. Horticulture, B.Sc. Forestry, B.Sc. Home Science and B.Tech. Agricultural Engineering — and three self-financing courses — B.Tech. Agricultural Biotechnology, B.Tech. Horticulture and B.Tech. Food Processing Engineering.

This year, the admissions were advanced by a month, to allow enough time for graduates to join postgraduate programmes in other States. On an average, 60 per cent of the seats in each course were expected to be filled by women, with the level for biotechnology likely to touch 70 per cent, going by present indications.

Though the students had been asked to specify the course of their choice at the time of application, they were permitted to opt for any course for which seats were available.

All applicants were seated in the university auditorium and allotments made on the spot, with seat availability for each course being projected on a large screen.

'Demand picking up'

Prof. Ramasamy, who inaugurated counselling for admissions, said training in entrepreneurship, placement assistance and introduction of modern learning facilities have resulted in more students opting for agricultural courses.

After a brief lull, there was now a "good demand" for all courses.

"This time, the highest demand is for B.Tech Agricultural Biotechnology, which seems to be the option after medicine". The demand was high also for B.Tech Horticulture, B.Sc. Agriculture and B.Sc. Horticulture.

The university placement cell was arranging for campus interviews once or twice every month.

In four months, 75 graduates were selected by the private sector.

This month, 20 doctoral candidates and 40 postgraduates in agriculture were joining the Dhan Foundation, a non-governmental organisation based in Madurai, but with operations all over the State.

The university was also offering training in management and technical aspects of agriculture. Sixty graduates had been trained and 16 started their own ventures.

To encourage agricultural graduates to pursue higher education in India and abroad, the university had created a database with details of academic requirements for various courses and how to apply.

All TNAU campuses in the State would be connected by a network and videoconferencing provided for lectures.

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