Students aspiring to be engineers need no longer be apprehensive about having to deal with different deadlines with regard to publication of Plus-Two results, conduct of entrance test in States where these are held, counselling, and subsequently the commencement of academic session.
The normal practice is that states follow different patterns of admission to engineering colleges approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). While some like Tamil Nadu have done away with any kind of entrance test, there are some who still follow the State Common Entrance Test (CET). Students following CBSE Board or those from one particular State preferring to study in another State very often lost out because deadlines pertaining to admission process differed with each State. This led to students being admitted from first week of August to last week of September taking into consideration all the discrepancies.
These apart, new colleges that did not get approval on time were not able to list themselves for counselling on time, thereby losing out on admissions. All these anomalies will cease to exist from the academic year 2012-13 with the Supreme Court laying down cut-off dates for grant of approvals by AICTE, affiliation by parent university, conduct of entrance test, counselling and admission (see box).
The AICTE has issued this as a notification in dailies for “strict compliance and adherence by all concerned”. Though the dates are slightly ahead of the existing schedule for colleges in Tamil Nadu affiliated to Anna University, the heads of the institutions have welcomed the common calendar that streamlines all the processes that is “in the best interest of the students”.
Sources from the Regional Centre of Anna University in Coimbatore say that the common calendar is a “feasible one.” It will streamline all the processes, from colleges getting approvals to the commencement of the academic year. Last year there were complaints from certain new colleges about delay in getting approvals and hence not being able to participate in the first round of counselling.
V. Selladurai, Principal of Coimbatore Institute of Technology says the uniform policy is appreciable. “Deadlines are there for applying for new colleges, introduction of new courses, extension of approval for existing courses, and applying for increase in intake for existing courses. As regards commencement of courses, tier-1 colleges have always been starting courses early,” he adds.
Complementing his view, heads of tier-1 engineering colleges say that the schedule did not need any additional effort to conform to because almost all their seats got filled in the first round of counselling and hence they were able to start classes in the first week of August.
The tier-2 and tier-3 colleges, however, will have to start classes on August 1 even though the ones who get selected in the final round of counselling (July 30) and in the management quota will take time to join these colleges.
Some college heads say that the success of the common calendar will have to be seen from its implementation because it also involves including admission under the management quota in the 65:35 ratio and keeping in mind the medical counselling schedule that usually precedes the engineering counselling in Tamil Nadu.
