Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission (TNEA) counselling for the academic stream will commence on September 17, Higher Education Minister K.P. Anbalagan announced on Tuesday. The entire counselling process will be online, including for special categories such as wards of ex-servicemen, persons with disabilities and sportspersons, and supplementary and SCA/SC categories.
Aspirants can log in to www.tneaonline.org and www.tndte.gov.in to register for counselling. The last date to register is August 16. Once the results for Class 12 are published, the Higher Education Department will upload them for verification, the Minister said.
Uploading certificates
The Directorate of Technical Education, which conducts the counselling, has made arrangements for aspirants to scan and upload the relevant documents from their mobile phones. They must pay the registration fee by August 16, the Minister said.
The DoTE has increased the number of TNEA facilitation centres (TFC) to 52 this year by establishing units in the newly created districts of Chengalpattu, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Kallakurichi, Tenkasi and Mayiladuthurai. Though the certificate verification would be done online, in case of discrepancies the candidate would be called to the relevant TFC for verification by following the mandatory precautions against the virus infection, Mr. Anbalagan said.
465 colleges registered
As of now, 465 colleges had registered for counselling but the number could increase as colleges had time till August 15 to add seats.
In the academic year 2019-20, 536 colleges with an intake of 2,26,385 seats, had participated in counselling. The number of government seats was 1,49,821. A total of 1,08,932 seats had been filled. There had been an increase in the number of students admitted last year as compared to 2018-19, he said and added that this year too the number was bound to increase. To a question why fewer candidates preferred engineering, he said since the intake was high, it created a perception that fewer students were being admitted.
Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry would continue to be the core subjects for deciding the cut-off marks.
End-semester exams
The 11-member committee under the Higher Education Secretary to assess the feasibility of conducting end-semester exams was studying the issue. The committee will consult the Governor/Chancellor, the Minister said. The Centre and the Ministry of Human Resource Development had not yet responded to the State government’s suggestion that it should decide on the conduct of exams.
As for online admission for arts and science colleges, he said a method had been proposed but it would be finalised in a couple of days after consulting the Chief Minister.
Aspirants can email at tnea2020enquiry@gmail.com or call the DoTE control room on 044-22351014, 22351015, 22350523, 22350527, 22350520, 9445493718, 9445496318 and 9445093618.