Nearly half of the applicants for engineering courses this year claim to be first generation aspirants for a graduation degree.
As against the 1.71 lakh seats available under single window counselling of Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) – 2012, 1.80 lakh students have applied for a seat in any of the 540 engineering colleges in the state.
Of them, 86,997 applicants have claimed to be first generation aspirants for a degree course. Out of this, 53,356 are boys and 33,641 are girls, said Prof. Rhymend Uthariaraj, secretary, TNEA. However, the first generation graduates will be identified (for tuition fee concession) only after verification of certificates, he added.
This year, 31,598 more students have applied for an engineering seat with the number of male applicants crossing one lakh under the academic stream for which 73,540 girl students have also applied. For the sports quota of 500 seats, the TNEA has received 4,010 applications.
On Monday, Higher Education Minister P. Palaniappan, Secretary T.S. Sridhar and others assigned 10-digit random numbers to the applicants, which will be used in case of a tie between candidates.
Minister avoids questions
. Anna Univ VC term ends
Meanwhile, the term of Anna University Vice Chancellor P. Mannar Jawahar ends on Tuesday. Mr. Jawahar is on a one-year extension. The AIADMK government has notified the merger of the five technical universities formed during the previous DMK rule with the Anna University, Chennai. As the date of notification of the amendment has not been issued for several months, Mr. Jawahar has been able to complete his extension.
According to Anna University statute, the syndicate will select three professors to run the administration of the university till a new vice chancellor is selected. The syndicate meeting will be held on Tuesday, sources said.
In the meantime, the committee set up to fix the fee for engineering colleges is expected to announce the fee structure for this academic year on Tuesday. The engineering rank list will be published on June 30.
