Single entrance for engg, medical

An admission overseeing committee set up by the State government said on Monday that  private professional colleges have to conduct a single entrance test for admissions to engineering and medical colleges from the next academic year.

The Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions Act, 2006, comes into force next year.
Barely 3,000 engineering and 800 medical seats are in government colleges. Private colleges will conduct a national-level entrance test for the rest of the seats.

Retired judge of the Karnataka High Court Justice V Jaggananathan, who heads the committee, on Monday made it clear to the private colleges that they have to allow the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) to conduct the exam.

  Otherwise, the private colleges’ association has to hold one entrance for all unaided colleges irrespective of whether they were minority institutions or deemed universities.

Regarding fees for the engineering and medical courses to be charged by the private colleges, the Fee Regulatory Committee set up by the government said it would not specify any upper limit.

“Affordability of students is not a criterion here. Fees will be fixed based on  college infrastructure and other parameters as specified in the act,” former high court judge Justice Ajit Gunjal, who heads the Fee Regulatory Committee, told reporters after the two committees held their first meeting with private college managements at Vikasa Soudha.

Meanwhile, senior officials of the higher education department made it clear that general merit, SC, ST and OBC students would  pay an uniform fee in the private colleges as the government had no plans of providing any fee concession to reserved category students.