Admissions to Bachelor in Science (B.Sc) degrees offered by agricultural universities will also come under the umbrella of a single entrance test.
From the 2013-14 academic year, students seeking admissions to B.Sc degrees in agriculture, horticulture, sericulture, animal husbandry, veterinary sciences and fisheries will have to write the State-administered Common Entrance Test (CET).
The State government decided to hand over the responsibility of conducting the entrance test to the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) earlier this week.
As per the new system, II pre-university course (II PUC) students with a combination of physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology (PCMB), who will write the CET for medical and dental seats (government quota), will also be charting their course to B.Sc admissions.
While B.Sc seat aspirants will be writing the CET alongside the others on May 1, 2 and 3, the seat allotment will not be made by the KEA, but by a common admission cell of the State universities offering the courses.
The 3,000 seats that will fall under the CET include those in the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, Raichur and Dharwad; University of Horticultural Sciences in Bagalkot, and Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University in Bidar.
KEA officials told The Hindu that in addition to the 1.3 lakh CET applicants, an additional 50,000 applications are expected for the B.Sc courses. “We are expecting 15,000 students to finally take the test for the 3,000 seats,” the official said.
Sources in the agricultural universities termed the move a good one which would help save seat aspirants time and money. The seat allotment is expected to be preference and rank-based. “Instead of spending Rs. 1,000 on each exam, students will finish the entrance examination at one go for Rs. 650,” the sources added.
