The notification for counselling for engineering and pharmacy courses is likely to be pushed further due to delay in fixing the fee structure in private colleges. The Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee (AFRC) which was supposed to decide the fee structure for private colleges by June 12 has not announced a composite fee structure till date. The higher education department officials said notification for counselling will be announced only by next week and counselling likely to begin from June 26.
Of the 674 engineering colleges in the state, only few have submitted their financial details and audited accounts as requisitioned by the AFRC on the proforma for considering fee hike. “The representatives from various college managements have been airing their grievances with the committee and some have also said that they are ready to continue with the present fee structure as long as they are not required to submit their accounts,” said an official of the higher education department. He further said that the tier-1 colleges want the fee structure to be around Rs 1.5 lakh per annum.
“The demand in admissions has also been hit this year due to various reasons including more number of seats, uncertainty and the fall in quality of education. The seats outnumber candidates who have qualified in the exam by one lakh in the convener quota,” N Ramesh, chairman of Consortium of Engineering and Professional Colleges Management Association (CEPCMA), said adding that further delay may lead to decrease in the number of students appearing for counselling.
