Fate of 3,000 architecture college aspirants in limbo

DTE sends proposal for revised admission process but minister yet to sign file

Fate of 3,000 architecture college aspirants in limbo

DTE sends proposal for revised admission process but minister yet to sign file

Even as 3000-odd students hoping to get into architecture colleges are awaiting the announcement of the admissions schedule, their hopes are crushed by the lethargy of the state technical education department officials. An admission to architecture colleges takes place in two ways, through aided and unaided colleges. For unaided colleges where fees are much higher, a separate entrance test is conducted, while for aided colleges, there is a national-level entrance test and in such institutions the fees are lower.

While admissions have already taken place and classes are set to begin in the 28-odd unaided colleges in the state, the fate of more than 3,000 students (based on seats available) hangs in the balance as Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) is yet to announce the long pending admission schedule. There are seven aided architecture colleges in the state and two such institutes are in the city.

"We want them to declare the admission schedule as we are ultimately losing out. It is possible for us to switch over from aided to unaided colleges, but if they delay too long and we wait for them to declare the dates, we might lose out on seats in unaided colleges as well. We don't want to take a chance with our career, but the difference in fees is huge," said a student.

Fees for annual architecture course in unaided colleges are between Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 while a government-aided college charges Rs 28,000 for the same course. Principal of BKPS college of Arhcitecture, Pushkar Kanvinde blamed the delay in conducting entrance exams for the delay in admissions. "Usually entrance exams are conducted by the end of May, but this time it was almost a month late. And that's why the admission process that usually gets over by July first week, is yet to start. However, we have received no explanation from the DTE," he said.

The Other Side
DTE officials, when asked about the delay, passed the buck on the office of Rajesh Tope, the minister of higher and technical education. They said the file for the admission process had been passed on to his office, but he was yet to sign and give his written consent. "This year AICTE dropped the eligibility percentage for open category students from 50% in Std XII to 45% and for reserved category from 45% to 40%.

However, the architecture council was opposed to this and wrote to us saying that if eligibility percentage was dropped they would not recognise the candidates. That's why we had to get a legal opinion," said S K Mahajan, director of DTE. He added that the final decision is to stick to the existing eligibility percentage. "But we have to get the minister's approval on this and have sent him the file. He is expected to do sign in a day or two. Admission process will begin by next week," he said.