For plus two students, the examination fever has subsided. For many of them, it is now the time to wait for the results and start the scramble for admissions to professional degree courses, mainly in engineering and medicine

A final picture of the number of seats for engineering courses in the State will emerge by June when the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) takes a decision on the number of seats and batches to be sanctioned in each college on the basis of the infrastructure and facilities available in each.

At present, there are 18,443 engineering seats in Kerala.
The nine government colleges and three aided colleges-the TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, the Mar Athanasius College of Engineering, Kothamangalam, and the NSS College of Engineering, Palakkad-share 3,973 seats among them and the 14 private self-financing colleges have a total of 14,430 seats. According to the Commissioner for Entrance Examination, C.K Viswanathan, changes coming about in the number of seats in engineering colleges cannot be ruled out. "Though the general rule is that each branch should have 60 seats, certain colleges only have 40 seats to 45 seats in some branches as they could not provide the facilities prescribed by the council," he says.

"If they enhance the facilities, the number would go up. If any college fails to meet the norms laid down by the council, the number of seats would come down too. Many self financing colleges are in the process of upgrading the facilities to get additional seats and batches. If the council approves fresh applications for engineering colleges, this would again lead to an increase in the number of seats. The final decision rests with the council, "he says.
The justice K.T.Thomas Committee, appointed by the Government to determine the fee structure in professional colleges, is mulling over the options. The private self-financing colleges have presented their case before the committee. It has to consider the concerns of the students and parents too. The committee's decision on the fees structure is likely to have a bearing on admissions too.

Considering these aspects, the counseling for professional courses will start only from July1. Counseling has been delayed by a month in order to avoid confusion over fees and the new courses that are likely to be sanctioned by the council,Mr.Viswanathan says.
" By deferring the counseling by a month, students would be better placed to decide on the course their choice. If the counseling is held in June as scheduled and if the council sanctions new courses and institutions later, it will create confusion among students. Moreover, we will be compelled to hold counseling sessions again. This will be taxing for the students as well as those conduction the counseling sessions", Mr.Viswanathan says.

Going by the trend in the previous years,Mr.Viswanathan says that the students give top priority to Electronics and Communication. Next in preference are Applied Electronics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and then Civil Engineering. Students do not accord top priority to Information Technology anymore. The shift in preference is being attributed to the changes in the IT sector and the dwindling job opportunities , he says.

Courtesy : Education Plus