Government may lose 24,000 engineering, 1,300 medical seats

Staff Reporter

Managements of private colleges to meet soon to discuss the implications

Private college managements euphoric Colleges anticipate more autonomy in admissions Three-tier fee structure likely to go

BANGALORE: In the wake of the Supreme Court judgment on professional college admissions, the State Government is likely to lose 24,000 engineering, 1,300 medical and about 1,200 dental seats next year.

The government quota, as it is understood today, will be reduced to seats available in government colleges and the aided institutions.

This year 1,322 medical seats were allotted to the eligible candidates under government quota in all institutions, including the private unaided and minority colleges.

This will be reduced to only 450 seats next year.

Meanwhile, the private college managements welcomed the Apex Court judgment. "The judgment comes as a welcome relief.

It has given clarity to the whole admission process. It has given autonomy to the institutions, which is not unbridled. There is a responsibility to fix fees that is based on actual costs and not capitation," said S. Kumar executive secretary of the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK).

He told The Hindu that the managements will now have to raise their development funds through the 15 per cent quota fixed for NRI students. The court, in its order, had ruled that all admissions should be strictly through an entrance test and the selection process should be centralised.

Dr. Kumar said this will not be difficult as the managements, through the COMEDK test, had shown their ability to conduct an admission test in a fair and transparent manner.

But during the last two years, students getting admitted under the management quota had to go to individual institutions for seat selection. "No institution can be adamant on this," Dr. Kumar said.

Various associations of the private managements are expected to meet soon to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court judgement.

Seat selection

The judgment will not affect this year’s ongoing seat selection process in any manner, said D.N. Nayak, Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell Special Officer.

Next year, he said, a major area of concern is that it will not be possible to give differential fee structures as was done this year.