The decision announced by Karnataka higher education minister VS Acharya on Monday regarding the fee structure and seat sharing for undergraduate engineering colleges in the state has left about 1.17 lakh students in utter confusion.
The decision announced by Karnataka higher education minister VS Acharya on Monday regarding the fee structure and seat sharing for undergraduate engineering colleges in the state has left about 1.17 lakh students in utter confusion.
Acharya said that those colleges interested in joining hands with the government and willing to accept the fee slab of Rs32,500 imposed by the state can enter into a seat sharing arrangement, in the ratio of 55:45, with 45% of the seats being filled by candidates eligible for admission after the Common Entrance Test results are considered. Of 184 engineering colleges, the minister claimed that about 130 colleges have shown interest in entering into a seat sharing arrangement with the government.
According to Acharya, colleges unwilling to accept the government proposal would fall under the purview of Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act 8, 2006, and thus have to allot seats in accordance with the recommendations of the Padmaraj committee.
At the end of it all, students have one question: who will offer them seats in the colleges? Will it be the state government or the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K)?
Under Section 6 of Karnataka Professional Education Institutions Act 8, the government has to appoint a fee determination committee to fix fees for all the colleges. As of now, however, the state government is depending on the report of the committee, and colleges would be expected to follow the recommendations of the Padmaraj committee.
But what will be the criteria for admission? According to an official in the higher education department, the directions of the Supreme Court in the matter are clear: allotment of seats ought to occur on the basis of the Padmaraj Committee report. Colleges would be expected to follow the ranking announced by after the Common Entrance Test (CET). An official, however, stated that the colleges could exercise a choice in the matter: “The government CET, the COMED-K or UGET, the option of which test to use for admitting students is left to colleges,” he said.
Meanwhile, some college managements unwilling to accept the government proposal on fee structure and seat sharing have decided to follow the ranking after the COMED-K results are announced. RL Jalappa, who runs the Devraj Urs group of institutions, said, “We will go with the COMED-K ranking. Why should we follow the CET?”
What that means, however, is that admission to such colleges will then be open only to those students who have taken the COMED-K examination. “We can allot seats only to students who have taken the COMED-K. As per statistics, of the 60,000-odd COMED-K students, only about 17,000 are from Karnataka,” said Jalappa. Students who have taken only the CET and not the COMED-K wonder whether prime colleges in the city will thus be out of bounds for them. “I am hopeful of getting a high rank in the CET 2011. I expect to be ranked within the first 50. I would like to find a seat in RVCE, MSRIT or PESIT. But what if those colleges do not enter into the arrangement with the state government? My problem is that I did not take the COMED-K examination,” says Surabhi, who hopes to study engineering at a good college.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=spacer}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}