COIMBATORE:As many as 1,246 candidates wrote the entrance examination for postgraduate agricultural courses at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) on Wednesday. There are 426 seats in 33 disciplines in the TNAU departments and affiliated colleges. As many as 438 students have applied for two subjects.
The university scrutinised the applications on Wednesday morning and held the entrance exam in the afternoon. Meanwhile, a section of the candidates said that nearly half the number were from neighbouring states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, which would lead to Tamil Nadu students losing out on the opportunity to pursue postgraduate agricultural courses. In these states, only local students were allowed to join courses. Applications from TN are rejected, they said.
However, the Vice Chancellor said, students from Tamil Nadu could join universities in other States. They could join any of the 66 state agricultural universities in the country.
“Twenty percent of seats are allotted by Indian Council for Agricultural Research through the all-India quota. In TN, other State students are allotted seats only over and above the sanctioned intake. So, it will not deprive TNadu students of their opportunities,” he said.
The TNAU offers PhD programmes in 26 disciplines. The last date for applying for the PhD seats is July 24 and the entrance exam will be conducted on August 5.