TNEA 2020: Counselling to begin on September 17

Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister KP Anbalagan announced today that the counselling for the Engineering colleges will begin on September 17 and the online application for the same began today.

The portal for online applications for Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission (TNEA) opened from 6 pm on July 15 and the last date of submission is August 16. The students can apply through the official website http://tneaonline.in/.

Speaking to reporters after releasing the schedule for TNEA 2020, the Minister said certificate verification, special counselling for differently abled and supplementary counselling would be conducted online this year due to Covid-19 pandemic.

As per the schedule, the engineering rank list will be released on September 7 and general counselling will be conducted from September 17 to October 6.

The minister said "AICTE has given time to the state governments to conduct counselling till October 15 in view of Covid-19. Though the ISC and the CBSE released the Class 12 results, the state board is yet to declare the results. Last year, 61.2% seats (83,396) were filled in the online counselling. We expect more admissions this year compared to the previous year".

Stating that 52 help centres will be set-up across Tamil Nadu to support applicants, KP Anbalagan said, “Those who don’t have internet facilities can come to these centres or they can even get submission done in the village cooperative bank branches in their places.” He said that out of over 1 lakh applicants who had submitted applications last year, only around 8,000 sought the help of these centres to submit online applications.

The Minister also said that the colleges cannot be opened anytime soon, owing to the pandemic situation and the decision on the semester exams will be arrived after discussion with the field experts.

Online application starts – July 15

The last date for applying – August 16

Last date to upload the documents — August 20

Random number allocation — August 21

Certificate verification — August 24 to September 1

Rank list — September 7

Special counselling — September 10 to 14

General counselling — September 17 to October 6

Supplementary counselling – October 8 to 12

The Minister said that the government’s plan is to conclude online counselling for engineering admissions by October 15. He added that a similar set-up for arts and science courses will be announced in a few days.

Last date to submit online applications: August 16, 2020

Last date for uploading original certificates: August 20, 2020

Verification of original certificates: August 24 to September 1, 2020

Publication of rank list: September 7, 2020

Counselling dates: September 17 to October 14, 2020 (Vocational stream counselling starts on September 10 and ends on September 14, 2020) 

“465 engineering colleges have registered for online counselling till now. But we still have time. The exact number of colleges and the seats will be known only on the last date. We will inform then,” he said.

Several private universities have announced cancellation of the entrance examinations usually conducted for engineering admissions. The Union Minister for HRD recently announced that the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE-Mains) will be held from September 1 to September 6. JEE (advanced) will be held on September 27 and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for MBBS admissions will be held on September 13.