SFIs say no to reserving 5% seats for outside kids

Though the state education department has allocated 5% of seats in engineering, pharmacy and MBA courses to students from other states, self-financed colleges offering these courses have shown reluctance to do so.

According to sources, the commissioner of technical education recently issued a letter to colleges offering professional courses seeking their feedback on implementation of the plan to put aside 5% of the reserved quota for students from outside the state.

Currently, under the 25% reservation quota, 15% are NRI seats while 10% are management seats. The education department has asked self-financed colleges if it would be possible for them to keep 5% seats for students from outside Gujarat. In response to the letter by Admission Committee for Professional Courses (ACPC), the association of self-financed colleges has shown reluctance to provide admission from 15% NRI seats.

“The authorities of these colleges have said that the ACPC should give admission to students from outside state from the 75% seats. This will ensure that the income generated through 25% seats does not go down for these colleges," said a source. Such reluctance has raised question over the success of the decision of the state education department. The decision to give admission to outside state students was taken to reduce number of vacant seats in degree engineering, pharmacy and MBA courses due to non-availability of students in the merit list, said ACPC officials.