How to choose right coaching institute for engineering entrance exams

The rat race has started........

With new comers tending towards engineering education many coaching centers are coming to their assistance. Coaching institutes across India for AIEEE, IITJEE etc are growing in number significantly.

These coaching institutes claim high success ratio in many newspapers and other form of advertisements with photos of students and their ranks. They do so to attract more and more students into their institutes. It is highly advisable to follow up and check the truthfulness of their claims. Always remember one thing in mind that hefty fees do not guarantee superior ranks. Some folks are tempted to think that since so and so institute demands bulky fees for their coaching they must be offering best standard coaching. They are wrong in thinking so.

How to choose right coaching institute

This is one of the most important subjects which often decides your rank and hence your career. Hence discussion on this topic is indispensible. IIT- JEE coaching has become far too commercialized. Hundreds of coaching centers have come into existence, claiming hundreds of ranks. It is the student who falls prey to all these gimmicks and often ends up with either a poor rank of failure at JEE. So before selecting any coaching institute you should check that the institute should have a strong reputation.

It is advisable to consider some factors before plunging into selection of apt coaching institute for Engineering.

Study Material:

The several engineering coaching institutes in India for IIT/AIEEE provide dissimilar and discrete study materials for assistance in studies.

But it is important to look into the depth of these study materials and to confirm that the so called unique study materials are actually unique or just copy pasted from other books.  It is also important to double check coaching institutes for collection of good quality and edifying books.

It is always important to choose a coaching institute that provides you appropriate guidance and offers you individual attention.

Test Series:

Coaching institutes for Engineering Entrance exams also usually have a series of mock tests and evaluations that help students in identifying their strength and weaknesses. It is very good to track the progress of every student to make him fit for the competition. All the endeavors are usually based up on the student's aptitude and attentiveness on important studies.

It is also imperative to check the faculties of the coaching institute you are planning to join. Faculties that are alumni of reputed institutes themselves can offer you in depth insights into the entrance exam patterns.

Competitive Environment:

It is very important to create a competitive environment in institutes to keep students motivated all the times. The foremost thing to be focused in this direction is forming batches of reasonable strength to ensure that every student gets ample time to interact with teachers. There should be some special sessions at colleges to address students’ queries regarding critical aspects other than exams like Group Discussions/Personal Interview.

Some tips for choosing the right institute are:

• See how old the institute is.
• How many students of the institute got into IIT last year? Ask the institute to give phone nos. of the successful students, so that you can confirm.
• Talk to 3 or 4 students (should be studious) who are already studying in that institute. Ask them what they feel about the teachers and the management (very important!) of that institute.
• See the level of problems in the assignments and whether the study material is regularly updated or not.
• Finally, see if your parents can pay the fees (generally very huge).

For students living in areas with no coaching institutes or transportation problems, a postal coaching is a must. Some tips for postal coaching are:

• Most important tip is that the coaching institute that you choose should have a very strong reputation.
• See whether the sets are dispatched on time.
• Talk to students who have already enrolled for that institute, and what they feel about the depth of coverage and problem sets.
• See how many postal tests, on-the-spot tests and lecture sessions are there. These are must for removing doubts and strengthening the concepts.

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JEE 2013 format is out – Test on April 7

CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) on Thursday announced the revised scheme of entrance examination for admissions to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and other Centrally-funded technical colleges.

 After discussions with the stakeholders, the CBSE has decided to conduct a Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) from 2013. Under the revised plan, JEE will be conducted in 2 parts: JEE (Main) and JEE (Advanced). The All India Engineering Entrance Examination will now be referred as the JEE (Main) and the IIT-JEE will now be called to as JEE (Advanced). The JEE (Advanced) will have an exclusive Joint Admission Board and Joint Implementation Committee. The first exam — JEE (Main) — will be organized on April 7, 2013 for BE/ B Tech/ B Architecture.

While all candidates will take the JEE (Main) that will “be the gateway” for JEE (Advanced), only top 150,000 students who qualify the JEE (Main) will get the chance to take the JEE (Advanced). This will include all candidates from reserved categories as well.

However, there is a difference in scheme regarding the IITs. Admission to IITs will be based on “category-wise all India rank in JEE (Advanced) subject to the condition that such candidates are in the top 20 percentile of successful candidates in class XII or an equivalent examination conducted by the respective boards.

Admission to NITs and other Centrally-funded technical institutes like the IIITs and participating colleges will be as per rank list which will be based on 40% weightage on school board marks in class XII or equivalent examination and 60% weightage on JEE (Main).

JEE Main 2013 Pattern

The JEE (Main)-2013 (Paper I of earlier AIEEE) will have one objective type question paper. The paper will consist of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. The duration of the paper will be 3 (Three) Hours.

As it was in AIEEE, the JEE (Main)-2013 Paper II  for B.Arch/B.Planning admissions will have one Question Paper consisting of Mathematics, Aptitude Test and Drawing Test. The duration of the paper will be 3 (Three) Hours.

JEE Advanced 2013 pattern

The JEE (Advanced)-2013 will have two objective type papers.

Each paper will consist of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.

Duration of each paper will be 3-hours.

Question papers will be in both English and Hindi.

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IIT JEE 2013: Only Top 20 percentile will be able to make it

Till 2012 pattern IIT JEE aspirants have to attain at least Sixty % in the 12th boards but IIT has now put an end to their freedom of not taking the board exams seriously because as per the new proposed pattern for IIT, the eligibility is top twenty percentile in 12th board exams.

Preliminary data of seven boards across India shows that the percentage required being in the top 20 will vary for different boards.

According to the new pattern, IIT JEE will have two exams; mains and advanced. The final rank will depend on the performance in the advanced exam, provided a student is in the top 20 percentile of his or her board.

The new pattern changes all that. So, if you're a student who wants to make it to the top 20 percentile group this year, you'd have to score 77.8% in the CBSE board, 78.1% in the Tamil Nadu board, 67.5% in Karnataka, 65% in Uttar Pradesh, 64% in Madhya Pradesh and just 58% in the West Bengal board examination. These figures would apply only for general category students.

For students seeking to take the test under different quotas categories, it would be less. Separate data will be compiled for these categories soon. The Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE), which compiled the data this year, said all state boards have been asked to put up their percentage figures in the public domain soon.

"Once the student knows the percentage, he (or she) can prepare for professional entry into IITs accordingly. There will be just minor variations in this figure every year”.
Sources in COBSE

"Next year, the numbers would fluctuate around this data. So, an IIT aspirant can know how much he or she should aim for in the boards".
Gautam Baruah, Director, IIT-Guwahati

According to sources the ICSE, CBSE, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu boards are most likely to be in the highest percentage bracket. Boards such as those of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar will be at the lower end.

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This can change your life for good

Here’s a video interview of Will Smith , the actor, film producer and pop rapper which can really change your life, change your approach towards life for better. Watch the complete video and we are sure you will have feel motivated in every way.

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Some Common Myths about IIT

IIT-JEE aspirants often wonder things about their dream engineering institutions – the IITs. They discuss about them with their friends and family. However, in this process, like the classical game of Chinese Whispers, a lot of incorrect information is floated around that gets turned and twisted at every stage and in the end gets misguiding at once. Most aspirants believe these myths to be true, which could affect preparations and prove to be very harmful for aspirants sometimes.

Even our team at Engineering Entrance Guide used to believe some of these myths earlier. Given below are some common myths relating to IITs:

Myth 1: “IIT Mumbai is the best according to a magazine’s rankings”

Around the time of April-May every year, all magazines claim to have organized surveys and studies in all institutes across India, and allot points on various parameters like campus, academics, faculty, placements, extra-academics, etc. Do you really think these magazines go to all these institutes and do these surveys and studies as they claim? Even if they do, how correct is their evaluation? The reality is, in fact, no such survey is ever conducted by any of those magazines. Such rankings and points are given by a group of their reporters, most of whom don’t know much about IITs.

The rankings and points given are arrived on the basis of the feedback they receive from mostly random people and students around them. The views are highly prone to be biased towards or against a particular college. Also, most often these rankings are highly influenced by the promoters of private institutes (VIT was once ranked ahead of IIT Guwahati by some magazine). These rankings are also never consistent. Different magazines have completely different rankings. So it makes no sense to base your judgment about an institution on these rankings. They are indicative up to some extent, like they would never place IIT Bhubaneswar above IIT Kharagpur. Such rankings just should be trusted with utmost care, not blindly.

Myth 2: “IITians have to work hard day and night because of the extreme academic pressure”

Thanks to the movie 3 Idiots for this. People generally think of IITs as institutions where students are under extreme pressure all the time and are always looking for new ways to commit suicide in their hostels. Students have to take many assignments and surprise tests from their grumpy old professors that leave them with no time for anything apart from academics, killing their innovative thinking. The truth is, yes, there is a certain amount of academic pressure in IITs, which is more than other engineering institutes. But the pressure is never more than what the IITians can handle. After all, IITians are the top 2% of all the JEE aspirants who apply for it. They are supposed to be better than the others. Whatever pressure is there is easily managed by the students. And students there get more time (and facilities) for extra academics than other institutes. Ask any IITian, and you would know they complete most of our syllabus in the 1-2 weeks before exams. Rest of the time is used to enhance extra skills, academic or non-academic. And there is enough time and encouragement to do something, anything, innovative. Students in private engineering colleges often do not get so much time and freedom to do so.

Myth 3: “A particular IIT is good at Physics, etc”

This is a common myth among students. We don’t know where these kinds of rumors get started from. It’s true that a particular IIT may have superior research facilities for a particular subject, but B. Tech. students have nothing to do with it. Having better infrastructure and research facilities does not mean the professors will teach you any better. Also, B. Tech. students are most probably not going to use any of those research facilities during their B. Tech. course. So it does not mean much for undergraduate students. It only makes a difference for the research scholars (Ph. D. students) or M. Tech. students.

Myth 4: “IITs have more than 100% placements”

It makes us laugh. I heard it for the first time around the time when of my friend cracked the JEE. Some people think IITs have “600% placements. It means the total number of job offers available is 6 times more than the number of students passing out.” This is entirely incorrect. Even a top branch in the old IITs cannot assure you a job. The percentage of students placed very often does not even reach the 100% mark. It hardly ever happens that a company which came to the IITs for campus placement had to go back empty handed because there weren’t enough students. However, sometimes companies do go without recruiting anyone because they didn’t find any IITian competent enough to work for them. Surprising? Remember Narayan Murthy’s comment about the IITs? He said most of the students passing out of IITs fare poorly at jobs that is why Infosys does not recruit from the IITs anymore. We are not here to debate on his, but it should give you an idea of what the corporate world thinks of IITs.

For JEE aspirants, IITs are their dream institutions. But for the corporate world, it’s just another engineering college that produces slightly more talented workers than the others. Companies want talented people who can work for them. They don’t care how hard you worked for cracking the JEE or what was your JEE rank. They come to IITs to recruit just because they have a better chance of finding talented people here. If you are not competent, you will not get a job, whatever IIT and branch you may be in. Most recruiting companies have a very rigorous selection process, to ensure that they get only the most suitable. So, as you see, the bargaining chip is with the corporate, not with the IITs.

Myth 5: “I find solving linear equations interesting. I am a genius at Maths”

Students in 11th and 12th class usually get over-excited by their good marks in a particular subject. If you are doing well in a subject, it may mean that you have a good aptitude for it, but it does not always mean that it will remain that way once you take admission in a college. The syllabus for Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics get very different once you go for higher studies in that topic. For example, while Physics in senior high school is primarily about concepts of Classical Physics, in college it mainly revolves around Modern Physics. While Classical Physics is more numerical based, Modern Physics involves more of theories. So students who used to love Physics in their intermediate school often dislike the subject when they go for higher studies in the subject. However, don’t lose confidence. You may really have a good aptitude for a subject. Just don’t jump to conclusions. Get an idea of what your studies will be like once you go for higher studies in a subject, and then take any decisions.

Myth 6: “JEE achievers are extremely talented and should be worshiped”

Coaching centers nowadays will do anything to add one number to their “number of students qualified”. This has resulted in over-valuation of one’s JEE rank. JEE ranks’ only role is to provide a preference order for qualifying students during the IIT JEE counseling. A better ranking student’s preference is taken in to account first while allotting branches and IITs. After the seats are allotted, ones JEE rank hardly matters much. Of course it’s nice to know that you got such a good rank in the JEE, but now there are better ways to evaluate you. A JEE rank of 1 or 1000 hardly makes any difference 4 years after passing out of IIT. Companies are more interested in knowing what you are capable of doing, not in what you did 4 years ago after taking years of focused coaching for the exam. Very often it is seen that students with top JEE ranks turn out to be less successful than others.

Hope this clears up some of your myths and makes a little you more aware. By the way, the game of Chinese Whispers has been used in UK schools to simulate the spread of gossip and supposed harmful effects. It is also used to teach young students how to listen attentively. So it is always better to take the lesson early without having to play the game in real life.

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Top Engineering Colleges in the World

The list of top engineering schools in the world is dominated by California. Three of the top five institutions across the world hail from the Golden State, home of the global high-tech hub Silicon Valley.

But the East Coast business powerhouse the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which boasts an $8 billion (£4.9 billion) endowment, remains an important player. It shares the top rank with last year's outright top dog, the California Institute of Technology.

The University of California, Berkeley stands at fourth rank while Stanford University, whose alumni include William Hewlett, David Packard and other electronics tycoons, takes fifth place. Four other members of the University of California - Los Angeles (eighth), Santa Barbara (joint 16th), San Diego (24th) and Davis (32nd) - are also among this highly coveted list. The results come despite the funding problem facing the State of California: only time will tell whether the institution can maintain its competitiveness.

In total, 22 US engineering schools feature in the top 50.

The United Kingdom also scores highly in the table, with three of the top 10 and five representatives overall.

But the field of engineering and technology, covering everything from aerospace engineering to sustainable energy research, software design and robotics, is one of the most diverse of the subject tables in terms of national representation.

It is also the subject in which Asia makes its strongest presence felt in any discipline.

It has 10 institutions in the top 50 (compared with only six from mainland Europe), headed by the National University of Singapore (19th).

Engineering is the largest of the university's 14 faculties and has grown from just 300 students in the late 1970s to more than 10,000 students presently.

The University of Tokyo, standing at 21st position, has won many large grants under the Japanese government's 21st Century Centre of Excellence Programme, set up in 2002 to reward world-class research and help maintain global competitiveness.

List of Top Engineering Institutes in the World
Name, Country, Score (out of hundred)

1. California Institute of Technology, United States, 92.7
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, 92.7
3. Princeton University, United States, 92.4
4. University of California Berkeley, United States, 91.7
5. Stanford University, United States, 91.4
6. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 90.6
7. University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 87.4
8. University of California Los Angeles, United States, 87.3
9. ETH Zürich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, Switzerland, 87.1
10. Imperial College London, United Kingdom, 85.7
11. Georgia Institute of Technology, United States, 85.4
12. Carnegie Mellon University, United States, 83.2
13. University of Texas at Austin, United States, 81
14. University of Michigan, United States, 80.8
15. Cornell University, United States, 79.8
16. University of California Santa Barbara, United States, 78.1
17. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, United States, 78.1
18. University of Toronto, Canada, 78
19. National University of Singapore, Singapore, 77.5
20. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 77.1
21. University of Tokyo, Japan, 69.8
22. Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, 69.1
23. University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States, 69.1
24. University of California San Diego, United States, 67.8
25. University of Melbourne, Australia, 67.4
26. University of Manchester, United Kingdom, 67.1
27. University College London, United Kingdom, 66.6
28. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, 66.1
29. École Polytechnique, France, 65.9
30. University of Minnesota, United States, 65.9
31. Tsinghua University, China, 65.6
32. University of California Davis, United States, 65.2
33. University of British Columbia, Canada, 64.5
34. Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea, Republic Of, 63.8
35. The University of Sydney, Australia, 63.4
36. Pennsylvania State University, United States, 62.4
37. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 62
38. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, 61.5
39. Purdue University, United States, 60.7
40. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, Republic Of, 60.2
41. Rice University, United States, 60.2
42. The Ohio State University, United States, 59.5
43. Technische Universität München, Germany, 58.7
44. Peking University, China, 58.5
45. Brown University, United States, 58.3
46. The University of Queensland Australia, Australia, 58.3
47. McGill University, Canada, 57.9
48. Kyoto University, Japan, 56.6
49. University of Waterloo, Canada, 56.6
50. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 55.3

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Top Engineering Colleges in Mumbai

Mumbai, the financial capital of India is known for some of the best engineering institutes in India. Students from both across the country as well as abroad come here to get the best education in engineering and technology. Top engineering colleges in Mumbai provide programmes at the under-graduate and post-graduate level in several streams, viz: civil engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering, chemical engineering, electronics and communication engineering, Architecture, Electrical and Electronics Engineering to name a few.

Mumbai has some of the best Engineering institutes which are widely recognized as centers of excellence to its credit. Some of these include - Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology, Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) and many others. Mumbai is considered as hotspot of education and knowledge among engineering aspirants.

These engineering schools offer courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in several disciplines of engineering leading to the award of Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.), Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech), Bachelor of Architecture, Master of Engineering (ME), Master of Technology (M.Tech.), etc. Admission in different courses of engineering is offered on the basis of entrance examination, aptitude test etc.

Admission process may vary for different institutes. Some colleges accept scores of All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE), some shortlist students on the basic of ranking in State Engineering Exam, IIT Mumbai select students on the basic of Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) conducted by IITs, while some institutes conduct their own entrance tests. For admission into post graduate programs i.e. M.E. / M. Tech. etc, colleges accept score in Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), Graduate Record Examination (GRE) etc. However, some colleges for post graduate courses also hold individual written test and Interview.

For admission into undergraduate engineering degree courses, minimum educational requirement that one should possess is Intermediate (12th) from CBSE Board or any other qualification in relevant discipline. For admission into postgraduate engineering degree programs, minimum educational requirement is Post Graduate in Science or Graduate in Engineering. Score in relevant entrance examination is perquisite for admission into both undergraduate and post graduate degree programs.

College Ranking Parameters

The list of top engineering colleges in Mumbai has been determined by judging colleges on several parameters including:

• Reputation
• Selection process
• Faculty
• Placements
• Personality development & Industry interface
• Infrastructural facilities

List of Top Engineering Colleges in Mumbai

Given below is the list of top engineering colleges in Mumbai:

• IIT Bombay - Indian Institute of Technology
• Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology,Mumbai (MUICT-M)
• Sardar Patel College of Engineering
• Anjuman e Islams MH Saboo Siddik College of Engineering
• Atharva College of Engineering
• Bharatiya Vidya Bhavans Sardar Patel Institute OfTechnology
• D J Sanghvi College of Engineering
• Department of Biotechnology, University of Mumbai
• Don Bosco Institute of Technology
• Fr Conceicao Rodrigues College of Engineering
• K.J. Somaiya College of Engineering
• MCTs Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology
• Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering
• Padmabhushan Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan’s College of Engineering
• Rajaram Shinde College of Engineering
• Rizvi College of Engineering
• Shah & Anchor Kutchhi Engineering College
• Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandals Dwarkadas J Sanghvi College of Engineering
• St. Francis Institute of Technology (SFIT)
• Thadomal Shahani Engineering College (TSEC)
• Thakur College of Engineering and Technology
• Xavier Institute of Engineering (XIE)

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Top Engineering Colleges in Pune

Education system in Pune is among the best in India and it has various schools of advance learning that are widely recognized as centers of excellence. Pune was called "The Oxford of the east" by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The city attracts students from all across India and even from the different parts of the world.

Pune, the fast growing software hub of Maharashtra is known for some of the best engineering colleges in India. Top engineering colleges in Pune offer courses at the under-graduate and post-graduate level in different streams, viz: civil engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering, chemical engineering, electronics and communication engineering, Architecture, Electrical and Electronics Engineering to name a few. The city has some of the best Engineering institutes which are widely recognized as centers of excellence to its credit. Some of these include - College of Engineering, Pune Institute of Computer Technology and Bharati Vidyapeeth University.

With the growing software industry in Pune, the city is emerging as a hotspot of education and knowledge among computer engineering aspirants.

These colleges offer engineering programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in various disciplines of engineering leading to the award of Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.), Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech), Master of Engineering (ME), Master of Technology (M.Tech.), etc. Admission in different courses of engineering is offered on the basis of entrance examination, aptitude test etc.

Admission process may vary for different institutes. Some colleges accept scores of All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE), some select students on the basic of ranking in State Engineering Exam, while some institutes conduct their own entrance tests. For admission into post graduate programs i.e. M.E. / M. Tech., M.Plan. Etc, colleges accept score in Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), Graduate Record Examination (GRE) etc. However, some colleges for post graduate courses also organise individual written test and Interview.

For admission into undergraduate engineering degree programs, minimum educational requirement that one should possess is Intermediate (12th) from CBSE Board or any other qualification in relevant discipline. For admission into postgraduate engineering degree programs, minimum educational requirement is Post Graduate in Science or Graduate in Engineering. Score in relevant entrance examination is perquisite for entry into both undergraduate and post graduate degree programs.

College Ranking Parameters

The list of top engineering colleges in Pune has been determined by judging colleges on different parameters including:

• Reputation
• Selection process
• Faculty
• Placements
• Personality development & Industry interface
• Infrastructural facilities

List of Top Engineering Colleges in Pune

Given below is the list of top engineering colleges in Pune:

• College of Engineering, Pune
• Pune Institute of Computer Technology, Pune
• Bharati Vidyapeeth University - College of Engineering
• Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering for Women
• Sinhgad College of Engineering, Vadgaon, Pune
• All India Shri Shivaji Memorial Society, College ofEngineering, Pune
• Rajashri Shahu college of Engineering, Pune
• Jaywantro swant college of engineering, Pune
• Imperial College of engineering and Research,Wagholi, Pune
• Dr. D.Y. Patil college of Engineering,Wagholi, Pune
• Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune
• Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune
• Indira College of Engineering & Management, Pune
• Sinhgad Institute of Technology and Science, Nahre
• Sinhgad Academy of Engineering, Kondhwa, Pune
• M.I.T. College of Engineering, Kothrud, Pune

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Ahmedabad University gets AICTE nod for B.Tech programme

Students will now be able to study engineering courses Ahmedabad University (AU) and Navrachna University, Vadodara, as the AICTE has granted them approval to start undergraduate courses in engineering.

Apart from these 2 universities, 3 colleges in the state have also got approval to start undergraduate courses in engineering. They are Pacific College of Engineering in Surat; SAL Engineering College in Ahmedabad; and Swaminarayan College of Engineering in Kalol. All the 3 institutes have got permission to start an engineering course with 300 seats each.

As per the information provided by the Admission Committee for Professional Courses (ACPC), Ahmedabad University has got permission to start B.Tech course with 60 seats. Navrachna University has received permission to start the courses with 180 seats.

Ahmedabad University intends to start an engineering batch on its campus opposite Indian Institute of Management, (IIMA). It is learnt that AU has already recruited 7 professors of different engineering branches to begin the programme. But this could not be confirmed as AU registrar, BM Shah, could not be contacted on phone.

Member-secretary of ACPC, MN Patel, said that the 3 universities and the 3 institutes had received permission only on Thursday.

“That is why we could not include the increased seats during the first round of admissions which ended on Thursday. We will include the newly-approved seats — around 1140 in all — during the second round of admissions.”

MN Patel, Member-secretary of ACPC

In the first round, the total number of engineering seats available for admissions was 53,324.

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AICTE announces free engineering education for students with upto R 4.5 lakh family income

New Delhi: All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has brought some relief for low-income parents who wish to educate their children. According to the new AICTE announcement, students will get free engineering education if their family income is upto Rs 4.5 lakh. Tuition fee waiver scheme is applicable only for B.E./B.Tech. courses in Self-Financing Engineering institutes and Self-Supporting courses in Government Aided Engineering Institutes.

Seats up to a maximum of 5% of sanctioned intake per course will be available under the scheme. Generally, for a sanctioned intake of 60 in a Branch, Tuition Fee waiver shall be given to 3 candidates.

Sons and daughters of parents whose annual income is less than 4.50 lakhs from all sources shall only be eligible under this scheme. Students who wish to avail fee concession under this scheme should furnish proof of parental income to the counseling application issued by the revenue authority not below the rank of a Deputy Tahsildar. The tuition fee waived will be as approved by the State Level Committee.

All other fees except tuition fee will have to be paid by the students. Beneficiary student admitted under AICTE TFW scheme will not be allowed to change Institution / course under any circumstances.

The new rules will be applicable for admission in 2012-13 session. The rule has been applied in the Uttar Pradesh State Entrance Examination (UPSEE), the counseling for which starts on July 14.

The income limit for free education till last year was Rs 2.5 lakh. AICTE applies its rules to all the engineering, pharmacy, hotel management and fashion designing institutes.

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Zero in exam can still get you an engineering seat

They may have handed over blank papers but they have still qualified for admission into professional engineering courses in Andhra Pradesh. Unbelievable but true, as per officials.

Twenty-two of 78 students who scored zero in the entrance exam this year will get admission in engineering courses as they belong to Scheduled Caste(SC) or Scheduled Tribe(ST) communities.

According to officials in the education department, despite scoring zero in EAMCET (Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test), these students have qualified as they got the minimum 40 % marks in the qualifying XII exam.

While 9 students will get admission into engineering institutes, 13 can pursue other courses except MBBS. Even this was possible till 2008 when the Medical Council of India (MCI) tightened the eligibility norms.

The Dalit/tribal students who have qualified despite scoring zero in the medical stream in EAMCET can get admissions into agriculture, veterinary and horticulture degree programmes.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad, conducts EAMCET every year for admission into professional courses both in government and private institutes in the state. The results of EAMCET 2012 were announced last week.

Of 90,917 students who gave EAMCET in the medicine stream, 83,686 qualified.

For the general category students, the competition will be tough with only 4,950 seats available in 37 medical colleges and 1,870 seats in 21 dental colleges.

Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of engineering colleges (671) in India.

Of 283,477 students who gave engineering entrance, 223,886 have qualified. This number has come down to about 200,000 as many students failed in the XII exam.

This means over 100,000 engineering seats would still remain vacant in the academic year 2012-13. The state has 321,000 engineering seats.

Academicians say the number of vacant seats in engineering institutes would be even higher as the top rankers will opt for the Indian Institute of Technology.

Till 2010, passing XII exam was sufficient to get entry into engineering institute even if the students score zero in EAMCET.

Last year, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) prescribed a cut off percentage of 50 in 12 Class for general category and 40 % for the reserved quota students.

The total marks in EAMCET are 160, and for the general category, the qualifying marks are 25 % of the total.

Governor ESL Narasimhan, who is the chancellor of all universities in the state, is sad over the state of affairs.

Addressing JNTU Hyderabad convocation in May, he disapproved of the trend of giving admissions to students who don't score a single mark in EAMCET.

"There should be some minimum qualifying marks. What do you expect of such students, who score zero, to do in classrooms? Do you want to develop an inferiority complex among such students?"

Governor ESL Narasimhan, Governor, Andhra Pradesh

Previous year, 26 out of 73 students who got zero marks in EAMCET were declared qualified. Of them, 17 got admissions into engineering and nine in agriculture/veterinary institutes.

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Karnataka: 15 Engineering institutes to get grants

The State Cabinet has decided to implement a Rs. 221-crore World Bank-aided project in 15 engineering institutes to enhance the quality of technical education and research.

Addressing media persons on the decisions taken at a Cabinet meeting here on Friday, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri said the 2nd phase of the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQUIP) would be implemented in 15 private and government engineering institutes to promote research and innovation.

Under the TEQUIP-II, 15 engineering institutes would receive Rs. 12 crore each. The Union Government would route 75 % of funds for the Rs. 221-crore project while the State government would contribute the rest.

Mr. Kageri said institutes such as Malnad Engineering College, Hassan; M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, R V Engineering College, BMC engineering college, Dr Ambedkar Engineering College, all located in Bangalore; NMAM Institute of Technology, Nitte; and Siddaganga Engineering College, Tumkur, have been shortlisted for this project, he said.

The State Government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with these 15 institutes with regard to the TEQIP Phase-2 when the late V.S. Acharya was Higher Education Minister.

Faculty recruitment and skill enhancements have not kept pace with the expansion of engineering institutions.

The shortage among Ph.D.- level faculty was around 30,000 and Masters-level faculty around 24,000 in 2008. Karnataka has 187 engineering institutes of which 14 are government, 12 aided and 161 unaided. On average, 63,104 students are admitted to engineering institutes.

TEQIP Phase-I (2004-09) also covered 14 engineering institutes in Karnataka, at an outlay of Rs. 162 crore. Karnataka was among 13 States covered in TEQIP Phase-I.

The main objectives of TEQIP Phase-II are to increase enrolment in post-graduate studies (primarily Ph.Ds. and M.Techs), to augment the number of research papers published and to upgrade the competence of faculty, according to Minister for Higher Education V.S. Acharya.

Dr. Acharya said that with 14 institutes given TEQIP, Karnataka has the highest number of colleges to have been deemed fit for the grant. “Some of our institutes are better than the National Institutes of Technology,” according to Dr. Acharya.

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