JOIN USDiploma holders must write CET for BE lateral entry
The uncertainty has finally been laid to rest. Diploma holders will have to write the Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to BE 2nd year (3rd semester) through lateral entry.
Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) will conduct the CET in the third week of August. The results will be declared three days later and the counselling conducted shortly thereafter.
The entire process would be completed by the end of August, according to Rashmi V Mahesh, Executive Director, KEA.
Confusion first started when many students and parents made representations to KEA earlier this year about the conduct of the test.
They cited a guideline reportedly issued by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) that an entrance test was unnecessary for admission to BE 3rd semester through lateral entry.
Marks obtained by students in the qualifying examination (in this case the diploma in engineering) will instead form the basis for the merit list, the AICTE is believed to have ruled.
The KEA wrote to the Department of Higher Education about a fortnight ago and sought a direction. In reality, however, the AICTE has left it to the discretion of the State government.
“Admission procedure for these seats shall be decided by the State Government/Union Territory authorities concerned,” Rule 6 (4) in the AICTE guidelines for 2012-13 states.
Siddaiah, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, admitted to the uncertainty that reigned earlier. “We were uncertain whether to conduct the test or not. But the air has been cleared now,” he told Deccan Herald.
The test has been conducted all these years and it will be held this year too, he added.
The uncertainty, however, has delayed the CET by almost a month. Earlier, it was being held by July.
The announcement, nonetheless, is expected to relieve the students many of whom joined coaching classes for the test. The reigning confusion had earlier put them on the spot.