CHENNAI: The State Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy on Friday announced the online Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) counselling is advanced to July 2. Speaking to media persons at the secretariat, Ponmudy said “After consultation with the Directorate of Technical Education (DOTE) and higher education officials, the decision to prepone engineering counselling from August 2 to July 2 has been taken for the benefit of students.”
An official from the higher education department said the decision to conduct the counselling early has been taken as both CBSE and State Board Class 12 results have already been published. As per the revised schedule, counselling for the special category (sports, ex-serviceman and differently-abled) will start by July 2 and end by July 5.
For the General Category, the counselling will start by July 7 and end by August 24. The counselling process will conclude by September 3. The online registration process for TNEA began on May 5 and it will end on June 4. The rank list will be released on June 26.
The colleges also welcomed the move. “Last year, the counselling was held on the last week of November due to which there was a delay in the commencement of classes for the fresh students. Many colleges had to conduct extra classes to finish the course,” said K Venkatachalam, principal of a private engineering college.
The minister also announced an extension of the deadline for applying to Government Arts and Science colleges to May 22. Earlier, the last date was May 19. “So far, 2,58,627 candidates have registered for UG admission in Government Arts and Science Colleges. Students can apply online till May 22,” said Ponmudy. Further, the minister said that the students who cleared the Class 10 exam, can apply for polytechnic courses. There are 1.65 lakh seats available in more than 500 polytechnic colleges.