The semester examinations in over 500 engineering colleges of Anna University, after being delayed twice, finally commenced on Monday, much to the relief to over six lakh students who will take the exams this week. Final year students all set to leave abroad for further studies or join a company are, however, hoping the delay does not translate into postponement of results.
This is mainly because smaller IT companies and core companies that have recruited students from different colleges have already asked them to join between June 1 and June 20. “It is not much of a worry for those recruited in bigger IT companies because the joining dates are much later. But for those hired by smaller companies, which is nearly 50 per cent in most engineering colleges, the situation is difficult because companies say they have already planned the training batches,” says a student recruited by Ionetics.
As per the original schedule, the university exams were to commence on May 3, but the university rescheduled it to May 7 a few days ago, and then again, to May 14.
Students also worried
Those seeking admissions in universities abroad will face a huge problem too if the results are not announced in time. Shiva Selvaraj, a student who has applied to Canadian Universities says, “Companies might be flexible if you show them a letter from the university confirming the delay but colleges abroad don't do that. They insist on having at least a provisional certificate before granting admission.”
The United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) has already written to the U.S. consulate about the anticipated delay. “North American universities have agreed to accept the initial years' mark sheets of students and decide on admissions, if they don't have any arrears. The visa process can be taken care of but many universities compulsory ask for the final year results," said C. Vijayalakshmi, manager, IDP Education India.
Students studying in all six Anna Universities in the State, and in University Departments of all Anna Universities of Technology (Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Madurai and Tirunelveli) were affected by this delay. Anna University of Chennai, officials had cited administrative failure for the delay.
However, Anna University Vice-Chancellor P. Mannar Jawahar has said that there will be no delay in results, particularly for the final-year students. “The evaluation process will be faster. The final-year results will come out in the initial weeks of June, other results will come out in the next 15 days.”
The delay in the exams was mainly because of administrative reasons, and also because many colleges did not send the data in the required format and on time, because of which the hall tickets could not be dispatched on time, he added.
