ICET2008 COUNSELING START,

WEB COUNSELING FIRST TIME IN ANDHRA PRADESH TO ICET AND EAMCETICET-2008 counseling for admissions into MBA and MCA courses was inaugurated by Minister for Higher Education and Technical Education R. Chenga Reddy at Osmania University campus on Wednesday. APSCHE Chairman, K.C. Reddy, after the inauguration, informed that till July 8, AICTE has permitted 57 MCA and 20 MBA new colleges in the State. Another 141 engineering colleges have also received permission to start functioning this academic year. “The counseling for admissions in new colleges will be in the second phase of ICET counseling. The second phase is likely to start in August,” Mr. Reddy informed. This is for the first time that web based counseling has been adopted for ICET-2008 counseling. The same procedure will be followed in EAMCET counseling, to be held from July 16. Each candidate was given a scratch card having a password, which can be used during the second phase of counseling. “Students need not come back to the second phase of counseling in the centers. If they have access to Internet, they can use this password to select their course and even the college. This time, the government is also extending fee waiver for SC, ST, BC and minority students whose parental income is less that Rs. 1 lakh per annum,” informed Minister Chenga Reddy. The APSCHE has selected eight University Colleges and PG centers as helpline centers for web counseling. The centers include Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Etcherla (Srikakulam), Osmania University, Kakatiya University (Warangal), JNTU College of Engineering, Anantapur, S.V. University of Tirupathi, Yogi Vemana University of Kadapa and S.K.U. PG Centre of Kurnool. In the first phase of counseling, AICTE has approved 430 MCA and 292 MBA colleges for counseling. In all, the first phase of ICET counseling has 25,800 MCA and 17,520 MBA seats up for grabs. few more MBA, MCA and engineering colleges are likely to get recognized by AICTE, would be up for admissions in the second phase.

Icet2008;1500 vacant seats in MCA, Due to lack of students

But no change in management quota donations MCA colleges in the state are heading for a crisis with more than 1,500 seats lying vacant in the convenor quota after the first phase of Icet counselling. This is in addition to thousands of seats lying vacant in minority colleges which conduct separate counselling. In previous years, MCA seats were usually filled up and it was MBA seats that remained vacant. This time, 500 MBA seats are remaining vacant. Academic experts said this spelt trouble for MCA colleges in rural areas which are on the verge of closure because of the non-availability of candidates. They predicted that the situation will only become worse in for the MCA colleges in the next three to four years. The rise in number of engineering colleges in the state will make the things more difficult for MCA colleges . Most of the students with MPC background were opting for engineering courses and do not care to pursue MCA. Another reason for the non-availability of candidates is the condition that maths should be a compulsory subject during intermediate or graduation-level to pursue the course. Students with MPC background in Intermediate are opting for engineering courses at graduation level. Candidates who qualified in Icet2008 examination were opting for MBA instead of MCA. This is because MBA course lasts only for two years, while MCA is for three years. MBA students are recruited by all the companies, MCA students only in software firms. Most of the SC/ST students who qualified in Icet have also opted for MBA courses over MCA.