CHENNAI: All state universities and colleges would begin first year UG admissions from August 1, said Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi on Thursday. Meeting reporters, he said that the aggregate of results from Class 10, 11 and 12 will be used for admissions to higher education courses.
Admissions into Anna University will be facilitated by the Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) and will be conducted through a single-window system using the aggregate score, he said. He however did not clarify if the admissions will be held online or offline.
Ponmudi further added that colleges have been permitted to reopen from August 1. Colleges will be allowed to handle the admission process on their campus and conduct online classes after the "vacation" is over by July 31, he said.
Ponmudi met reporters after a virtual meeting with the Vice Chancellors (VCs) of all state universities in Tamil Nadu on Thursday. He said that he discussed recruitment discrepancies in the institutions. "All universities should follow the same norms and regulations in recruitment and I have asked them to ensure transparency in the process," he said, adding that the government will be taking a deeper look into major recruitments made in the past decade.
Commenting on recent reports that claimed that University of Madras had terminated MPhil courses, Ponmudi said that all universities should continue to run the programme. "All universities have been instructed to continue MPhil courses," he said elaborating that there are mixed responses to discontinuing the programme.
MPhil courses have seen fewer takers in recent years after the University Grants Commission made PhD, NET and SLET a compulsory qualification for faculty members. Further, the National Education Policy called for the termination of MPhil courses, causing controversy in Tamil Nadu and some other states.