DOST round 2 over, lukewarm response to degree courses

Change in course combination, seat increase in govt. colleges among reasons

Most of the seats in private degree colleges and in a few government or aided colleges remain unfilled even after the allotment process has been done twice under the Degree Online Services of Telangana (DOST).

Increase in number of seats in government degree colleges, change of combination of courses in accordance with the students’ demand and effective implementation of the DOST by Telangana State Higher Education Council this year were attributed to the lukewarm response to the admissions in degree courses. Besides, enhancement of fee and introduction of self-finance courses were also cited as the reasons.

According to Ram Mohan Reddy, Principal, Giriraj Government College, one of the popular colleges in the State, out of the total intake of 1,840 seats in different combinations, till date 1,360 have been filled in the two allotments. Since June 26 was the last date for reporting, some more may be filled, he said.

To rein-in the private college managements which are fleecing students in the name of fee and also encourage rural students to pursue higher education, the government increased seats at government and aided colleges. Private college managements which give admissions to take the fee after the release of reimbursement feel DOST introduced to maintain transparency has become an obstacle.

In the jurisdiction of Telangana University comprising the erstwhile old district, there are 19 government and aided colleges (8,680 seats) and 55 private colleges (21,060 seats). Thus, a total of 29,772 seats are there. Of them, over 3,200 in government colleges and 6,000 in private were filled in the first allotment and in the second phase 1,500 in government and 3,400 were allotted. It is said that after the two allotments more than 17,000 seats remained unfilled.

However, the managements are hopeful about the third allotment. In the aided college, Women’s College, in BA English medium out of 15 seats 11 and in Telugu medium out of 16 just 4 were filled. However, the response to the B.Sc is good. In the B.Com (self-finance) the response is still poor, said Ms. Sadia, college principal.