Varsities, colleges abuzz with activity ahead of new academic year

CHENNAI: With admissions to Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in Tamil Nadu gaining momentum ahead of the new academic year, students who cleared Class 12 board exams are busy consulting academicians and educationists about the potential of different courses and the ideal course that they should pursue.

So far, more than 1.5 lakh students have enrolled for engineering admissions while the number of students who have registered for various arts and science courses are double of that, said officials from Anna University and the Directorate of Collegiate Education.

The counselling for engineering admission will start from July 2.

There will be three rounds of counselling, and more than one lakh students are expected to join engineering courses.

Those who fail to get admission to Anna University and its affiliated colleges and those who are unsuccessful in landing the course of their choice would move to private colleges and universities.

However, it should be noted that many private institutions have increased the fees for management quota seats by around 10 per cent.

Government support

Meanwhile, scores of girl students from government schools have begun registering for Pudhumai Penn scheme. Under the scheme, the State government pays Rs 1,000 per month to those who studied in government schools from Class 6 to Class 12 to support their higher education.

The financial aid will be given to any student who meets these basic criteria and wants to join institutions recognised by the state or central governments, or the University Grants Commission, and for all recognised undergraduate courses, including medicine, engineering, paramedical courses, diplomas and ITI courses.

The students who passed out of Class 12 from government schools can also avail the 7.5 per cent horizontal reservation to seek admissions to higher educational institutions. For such students, the entire fees such as tuition fee, hostel fee and transportation fee, etc. will be borne by the government.

This year, the state government has also begun providing counselling on higher education and employment opportunities to Class 12 students. For this, counselling centres have been established at every school under the Naan Mudhalvan scheme. Each school will designate two teachers as ambassadors to give counseling, and Class 12 students have also been provided with a manual on higher education.

TN among the best for students

Tamil Nadu has consistently performed well in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), with 18 institutions in the top-100 ranks in the overall category. Besides them, 36 institutions are among the top-200. Among universities, 22 are in the top-100 and 33 within the top-200.

Similarly, 32 Arts and Science colleges are among the top-100 and another 73 in the top-200. That is not all. Ten research institutions and 35 engineering colleges are within top-100 as per the NIRF.

After completing their courses, students can look at landing a good job through placement drives conducted by both government and private institutions. In the case of government colleges and universities, there would be job fairs while private institutions invite organisations to their campus for placement drives.