Higher Edu Dept gets ready for 2 lakh additional intake

BENGALURU: As students and colleges prepare themselves for the official reopening, higher educational institutions will witness an unusual intake this year and the department is gearing up with necessary arrangements. There are at least two  lakh more students who have cleared Class 12 exams compared to the previous year. The highest number of those who passed were Commerce students, followed by Science and Arts. 

Commissioner for Higher Education, Pradeep P, told TNIE that government colleges have a surplus of one lakh seats in a given year, as these r main vacant out of the 2.3 lakh capacity. In addition to this, if classes are held in shifts, 1.7 lakh students can be accommodated, he noted. Private colleges too are allowed to apply for additional sections with universities they are affiliated to, he said. 

However, since the applications for starting additional sections are open till the end of this month, university officials told TNIE that one will know about the additional seats available in a college only by September, after the local inspection takes place. 

Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor K R Venugopal said there is 50 per cent seat vacancy out of the 70,000 seats in affiliated private colleges itself. Colleges will be allowed to increase intake for courses that have more demand if they have the necessary infrastructure and staff. Government colleges are allowed to increase their seats by 40 per cent, Venugopal said.

An official of the Bengaluru North University said there is already a demand from 220 colleges for affiliations, mostly for Bachelor in Commerce and Bachelor in Business Administration courses. Although admissions will begin in two days, colleges have been given till the end of the month to place a request for additional sections, the official said. 

Poornima Ganesh, educational counsellor with Banjara Academy, said that engineering and medical courses continue to have more demand. However, of late, there have been streaks of demand for humanities courses including journalism and law, she pointed out.