Integrated PU colleges to face the axe

After the DPUE acted against several integrated PU colleges last year, they have decided to initiate action against more such colleges in the 2018-2019 academic year. The guidelines by the department state that pre university colleges are not allowed to tie up with agencies or coaching centres and allowing them to conduct classes in the PU college premises. Department officials said that action would be initiated against integrated colleges who conduct PU classes as well as coaching classes for students as it was violation of the rules. Many of these PU colleges also charge hefty fees against what is prescribed. They, however, pointed out that there is a need to evolve a more comprehensive policy for the benefit of the student community.

Colleges overcharging for applications

Despite the Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE) stipulating that aided and unaided colleges should charge ₹25 for every application, many colleges are charging a hefty amount ranging from ₹30 to ₹200 per application. This has caused anxiety among parents as they have to apply to multiple colleges and feel that this would burn a hole in the pocket.

Vasantha M.S., a parent. said, “Paying ₹25 is affordable, but since we are applying to multiple colleges, it is difficult to pay these high amounts that the colleges are charging. I just applied to a college which was charging ₹130 per application. I could have bought multiple applications with that amount."

Many PU colleges have finished admissions

While the DPUE rules state that colleges should begin admissions after the SSLC results are announced, many of the colleges, particularly integrated colleges, had completed their admission process in September last year. These colleges admitted students based on the marks scored in the preparatory examination. Many such colleges have blocked seats and taken an advance payment and will admit the students ‘formally’ this week.

Applications yet to go online

While many of the degree colleges have started providing online applications, a majority of PU colleges still have manual admission process where parents have to go to the college and submit physical applications. This causes hassles for parents as they have to go to different colleges in a short span of time.

L. Ramu, principal of MES PU College, says, "Most SSLC students and their parents are still not familiar with the online procedure and find it difficult. We want to make the process easy for them. We are, however, planning to adopt online application procedure in the coming years."