CET counselling to go online from this year

Seat-tracking feature will be the most empowering aspect of the new process: KEA official

For the thousands of II PU students who will attempt the Common Entrance Test (CET) this year, the only challenge will be clearing the test, as the process after that is set to become simpler.

The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has made the counselling process for seat selection go online. The seats will be allotted in order of merit and preferences of the candidates.

So what will happen to the counselling centres?

They will be converted into helpline centres. Twelve helpline centres will be set up across the State.

Candidates will have to go to the helpline centres for verification of documents once the merit list is declared, after which they will be allowed to enter their options online.

The process

Here is how the process works: each candidate will be given a user ID and password to open the page where they have to enter their options. They can enter their choice (of unlimited number) from the seats available — college, category, course and discipline wise. Those eligible for both medical and engineering can opt for colleges in the same form. The entry form, which will be displayed after this preliminary information is entered, contains priority order number, discipline, college name and code, and course code.

Seat allotments will start with medical, followed by ISMH (Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy), engineering and architecture. There will be three rounds of counselling, wherein a student can either join the college, or seek a better option, or surrender his/her seat and apply again in the next round. Unallotted or surrendered seats will be pooled in for the next round.

The feature of seat tracking would be the most empowering aspect, said Rashmi V. Mahesh, Executive Director, KEA.

“Until now, we would not know if a student who has selected a seat is going to take it or not. Now, students will be given time to report for a seat. Both the student and the college will confirm to the KEA if a seat is taken. The entire process will be in the public domain (through newspaper notifications and on the website), making it transparent,” she said.

To ensure that the new process does not unnerve the students, the examinations authority will conduct an interactive session after the document verification process. Handbooks will also be distributed to them.

When asked what the status of the KEA will be once the national entrance tests for medical and engineering courses are implemented in the State, Ms. Mahesh said the authority's role would be limited to counselling.