Preparation in full swing to start engineering courses

The State government is working on the formula to extend reservation in engineering courses for students of government schools as was done in the case of medical admissions last year, said a senior official. 

As per usual schedule, the admission process should have started in June first week itself, soon after Class 12 marks are declared. “However, this year it could not happen due to the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the second wave of the pandemic. Even semester exams had to be postponed and conducted online,” said a senior DoTE official. 

To start the admission process for engineering courses, Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) portal would have to launched where the aspirants could enrol, he said. 

The government was also working out a formula to give reservation for the government school students as it was given for medical seat aspirants last year, the official said. “Once the announcement on reservation is made, we need to calculate how many seats would go for the students falling under several categories,” he said. Also, the new fees structure should be calculated and inform to the aspirants before starting the admission process. 

The authorities have inspected the affiliate colleges that offer engineering courses to know whether they were equipped with all infrastructure as specified under the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Higher Education Department norms. 

“After arriving at the exact number of affiliate colleges that would offer courses this year, the details of the institutions, including the number of seats each of them would provide, will have to be uploaded on the portal. Their fees structure will also be fixed for each of these colleges, and they would be instructed to not to collect excess fees,” the official said. 

He added that the admission notification would be officially informed to the aspirants after all the preliminary processes were over.