BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to prevent e-admission irregularities, the Higher Education department will implement a counselling-based online admission process for UG and PG courses from 2023-24 academic session.
Officials on Monday said under the new system, three phases will be introduced - ‘float’, ‘slide’ and ‘freeze’ - for students who manage to get a seat. If a student has accepted the allotted seat but wishes for a better honours subject in the same college or university, he/ she has to choose the ‘float’ option.
Similarly, if any student has accepted the allotted seat but wants a better honours as well as college or university in higher preference, he/she can choose the ‘slide’ option. If the student is satisfied with the allotted seat - both the institute and honours - he/she can select the ‘freeze’ option. After selecting any of the three options as per their choice, students will have to pay the admission fee in the e-space of Students Academic Management System (SAMS).
Earlier, only ‘slide up’ option was available for students and they had to pay the fees offline at the higher education institution where they took admission. Between the rounds, if a student gets his/her first choice of honours or institution or opts for the ‘freeze’ option, he/she has to pay the differential admission fees online to get the intimation letter for admission.
Officials said whenever a seat is allotted, students have to choose their options of ‘float’, ‘slide’ and ‘freeze’ carefully. Not choosing an option would mean the student is rejecting the offered seat and he/she will be out of the counselling process in the subsequent rounds, they added.
From the new session onwards, students who get selected and take admission to his/her first preference of choice, be it college or university or honours subject, will not be allowed to participate in the subsequent rounds/phases of admission. During admission, ‘not reported’ option will be available in the institution’s e-space. Students who do not report at the selected institution for admission will be marked ‘not reported’ by the admission staff.
A report on fraud committed by those in-charge of e-admissions in different degree colleges and some universities during the slide-up option was earlier published by The New Indian Express. Under slide-up, eligible students get admission in higher ‘choice of preference’ institutions. He/she is required to forego the first college offered to him/her during the selection process and take admission to the college offered in slide-up. During the process, the admission fees paid to the first college by the student is refunded immediately.
“Strong disciplinary action will be taken against the admission team and head of the college/university found violating the e-admission guidelines this time,” said deputy director of Higher Education department Rajat Kumar Mansingh.
New beginning