After conducting an entrance test and at least two rounds of counselling, most deemed universities in the State have now re-opened admissions as many of their seats are vacant.
Officials in these colleges say though they had received many applications, many students had chosen to withdraw their admissions in the last minute, which had left many of their seats vacant.
“This is the first time we have re-opened admissions after counselling got over, and classes started. We didn’t expect these many vacancies,” said an official from SRM University.
Nearly 25 per cent of the students who got a seat in many deemed universities, including SRM University, withdrew their admissions. Last week, the University had re-issued the call for admission, inviting students to apply for its courses in all its campuses.
“We picked the best 8,000 students from our entrance test. We even called people who took the test, but we had over 24 per cent withdrawals,” he said, justifying the notification.
“Many new educational institutes have opened in north India. Many of our applicants finally chose colleges close to home,” he added.
Karunya University too has released advertisements asking students to apply to courses such as information technology, electronics and communication and bio technology, among others.
“The good thing is they did not even charge capitation, and I had to pay Rs. 7 lakh , an amount that one pays anyway for getting through merit. My son had not taken their entrance test,” said a parent of a student who got a seat in the IT branch of the University, last week.
Two months ago, many deemed universities in the State had conducted their own entrance examinations, and claimed to have sold over 1.5 application forms.
They had also released their rank lists and conducted various rounds of counselling.
Now, the fact they have released notifications, declaring ‘admissions open’, has led to concerns among senior academics, particularly regarding the validity of the entrance tests already conducted.
“How important is their entrance test, if you could get a seat anyway. And many students had really worked hard to crack these entrances,” a senior academic said.
Some experts also believe the Supreme Court’s instructions requiring colleges to end admissions by July 31, and not have admissions midway, has also contributed to the recent advertisements announcing a second round of admissions.
“The deadline is forcing institutions to maximise their admissions as soon as possible, and work overtime to admit students till the last minute,” said S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, dean, planning and development, Sastra University.
The State has 29 deemed universities, the highest number in the country, with 19 of them offering engineering courses. Admissions in at least 11 of these institutes are still open, or have been re-opened recently.
