The state government on Monday decided to fix a cap on the fees it will reimburse to engineering, MBA and MCA colleges from this academic year. Beneficiaries of the fee reimbursement scheme will, thus, have to pay the extra amount after the fees are hiked.
The government has, however, assured to pay the entire fees for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes students with financial assistance from the Centre. This, on the other hand, leaves students of the Backward Classes (BC) and the Economically Backward Classes (EBC) in a lurch.
It was also decided to extend the scheme to students next year only if they passed in 50 per cent of the total subjects in their First Year exams.
Thus, from now on, the government will only reimburse the existing fees of `31,000 per annum for engineering students and `27,000 for MBA/MCA students. With the state government announcing on Monday that it would fix a cap on the fees that it would reimburse, students will have to bear the excess amount.
The government, however, has assured that it will help students get interest-free loans from banks.
The Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee has sought three-months to revise the fee structure based on the SC orders.
Officials estimate that the fees will increase to a minimum of `50,200, which means students have to pay nearly `20,000 from their pockets.
In some colleges, the fees will be in the range of
`75,000 to `1,00,000. The decision was taken in the meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Monday.
“It will take another 2-3 months to revise the fee structure for engineering, MBA and MCA colleges.
However, we cannot delay Eamcet and Icet counselling for admissions on account of this. For this reason, we have decided to begin the counselling with the old fee structure. The government will also reimburse the old fees for BC, EBC students. In case of any hike in fees, the students will have to bear the additional amount. However, the government will assist them to get interest free loans from banks for the purpose,” said minister for social welfare Pithani Satyanarayana.
The state’s decision evoked sharp criticism from BC and EBC associations, who threatened to launch statewide agitations if it did not reimburse the entire fee irrespective of a hike.
Fees will increase to a minimum of `50,200, and students will have to pay `20,000 from their pockets. In some colleges, fee will range from `75,000 to `1,00,000

19 medical colleges in seat-selling scam 



Nineteen private medical colleges are under the state government’s scanner following complaints that they are selling medical post-graduate seats in the management quota.

The seats are being sold for up to `1.5 crore each, it is alleged.

The department of medical education has summoned the principals of the 19 private medical colleges to its office on Wednesday to probe the matter.

There are 750 PG medical seats in the state, with 375 of them in the management quota. The demand for seats is huge, and as a consequence, colleges have been allegedly auc
tioning the seats even before the government counselling was over in April.

A committee has been constituted by the state government to scrutinise each and every admission made under the management quota and determine whether the rules were followed or whether merit students were denied seats. The committee will submit its report in two weeks.
The committee is headed by director of medical education Dr Vishnu Prasad, with principals of three government medical colleges as members. All relevant documents have to be placed before the committee.

There were complaints that some colleges have not issued admission notifications in prominent newspapers as mandated.

When students asked the colleges for the application forms, they were told that the seats were already filled. Several candidates then complained to the Medical Council of India, which asked the state government to probe the issue. It also threatened to cancel those admissions that were made by violating the norms.
Principals summoned The department of med ical education has sum moned the principals of the 19 private medical colleges on Wednesday to probe the matter.

K L University KLUEEE 2012 Key

Parents allege that medical colleges have sold MBBS seats for `60 lakh each without issuing notification in three newspapers as required
The racket involving sale of MBBS seats is thriving in the state with college managements refusing to issue application forms to meritorious students for applying under the management quota. They say the seats have already been filled for the
academic year 2012-13. In fact, management quota seats in several colleges have been blocked for the next three years. There are nearly 1,220 MBBS seats on offer under the management quota.
Shocked parents are approaching the medical education department demanding action against erring colleges. They complained that the seats have
been blocked under the 40 per cent management quota even before Eamcet is held. The Eamcet is scheduled for today and the results are to be announced on May 24, but the admission process has already been closed! Parents allege that the medical colleges have sold MBBS seats for `60 lakh each and filled the seats without issuing notification in three prominent daily
newspapers as required. They have demanded that the State government conduct counselling for management quota seats and allot seats based on merit.
The government has left 40 per cent seats in Category-C solely to the discretion of managements, who are resorting to irregularities.
Describing the procedure being followed by the government in allotting MBBS seats to students in the state as unfair, Mr Nomula Jagadishwar, president of the Medical Course Strivers and Parents Association said, “The government concentrates on filling 60 per cent of the seats by conducting Eamcet by duly following merit, reservations and in a very transparent manner. It has left the 40 per cent seats in Category-C solely to the discretion of managements, who are resorting to grave irregularities by openly auctioning the seats. “We demand that the government conduct counselling even for management quota seats based on merit after scrutinising all the applications received by all the colleges for management quota admissions,” Mr Jagadishwar added.
Parents say even payment of `50 lakh “donation” does not guarantee an MBBS seat.
“Managements are taking donation of `60 lakh. Even after that they are not confirming the seat and issuing allotment letter. The next day, if they get an offer of more than `60 lakh, they are automatically cancelling the admission of the previous student and giving the seat to those who pay the higher amount,” said Mr Sevatri Srinivas, general secretary of the association.

Engineering colleges such as CBIT, Gokaraju Rangaraju, JBIT, MNR, Srinidhi, St.
Mary’s and RGIT-Nandyal, want a deemed status

The University Grants Commission will not process any fresh applications for setting up deemed universities in the state for this academic year. Several top engineering colleges from the state have applied for the “deemed status” to make their own admissions and get exemption from Eamcet in the new academic year 2012-13.
The decision has come as a relief to students and parents, as these colleges will now have to give admissions to engineering students based on merit secured in Eamcet this year for the fees prescribed by the government.
The “deemed status” enable colleges to conduct their own entrance tests and admissions, besides fixing their own fee structure.
Gitam Engineering College, Vizag, and Koneru Lakshmaiah Engineering College, Guntur, which figure in the list of top colleges, have secured the “deemed status” in the recent past and are exempted from Eamcet admissions.
The UGC has stopped processing deemed university applications since 2009, based on a report submitted by the Tandon Committee, which blacklisted 44 deemed universities across the country, including Vignan University in Andhra Pradesh, for failing to comply with the
norms on faculty and infrastructure. These blacklisted deemed universities challenged the decision in the Supreme Court. However, the case is still pending. Official sources in UGC say that the decision not to process fresh deemed varsity applications was taken since the apex court judgment over the issue is still pending and there is no clarity on how to proceed further.
Several engineering colleges, such as CBIT, Gokaraju Rangaraju, JBIT, MNR, Srinidhi, St. Mary’s and RGIT-Nandyal, are desperate to acquire a deemed status, to enjoy autonomy in matters of admission and fees.


Interestingly, all these institutes are professional colleges that offer engineering, pharmacy, MBA and MCA courses. The expert committees of UGC and AICTE had completed the inspection process of all these institutes in 2008 and 2009 and recommended them for the deemed status.

While the state has still not revealed to what extent it will reimburse private schools that will have to reserve 25 per cent of seats for children from economically weaker sections, it has decided to grade private schools across the state in preparation for implementing the Right to Education Act.

Principal secretary of primary education, Ms Chandana Khan categorically stated on Saturday that all private schools will have to reserve 25 per cent seats for poor students from the new academic year (2012-13) as directed by the Supreme Court. With the state government deciding to grade private schools across the state, the school education department will do so on parameters such as availability of qualified teachers, facilities, and student-teacher ratio as stipulated by the RTE Act and will begin enforcing the 25 per cent quota in those private schools that comply with the RTE norms.

Explaining the reason for the grading, principal secretary of primary education, Chandana Khan said, “The grading of private schools is essential since the quality standards differ from school to school. There are some private schools in the state that are inferior to government schools in terms of availability of qualified teachers and facilities. If we start admitting 25 per cent poor students in all the private schools without
taking these factors into account, the RTE Act will turn out to be a fee reimbursement scheme for school managements and will not serve the desired purpose, besides imposing a financial burden on the government.” Ms Khan said the government will hold consultations with all the stakeholders over implementing the 25 per cent quota.

On the important question of the funding, Ms Khan said, “There is no clarity on the budget required for the purpose.”
The state government has to bear the expenses towards fee reimbursement for the quota students, since the Centre has not brought this under SSA scheme. However, the state has requested the Centre to do so.

Move to check false `topper' claims
In a significant development, the state government has decided to post college-wise Intermediate examination results on the Board of Intermediate Education website from this year.

The move is an effort to check trumped-up claims about the results of students made by corporate and private junior colleges across the state.

Plans are afoot to extend the facility to schools to enable parents to know school-wise SSC results.

There was no provision till now for the public to know the results of each college and verify which institutions the toppers are from, or whether a particular college has secured 100 per cent result. The parents of students have no option but to rely on publicity and
media advertisements issued by the college managements. By posting the results of each college on the website, the government hopes that the public could make correct decisions during the admission season.

Mr K. Parthasarathi, minister for secondary education, explained: “We
have seen an unhealthy competition among corporate and private junior colleges over the last few years. The college managements falsely claim that their students achieved top ranks, and also publicise about achieving 100 per cent results to attract more applications.“ Narayana, Chaitanya students top Students of Sri Chaitanya and Narayana Groups topped the state in Intermediate first year, emerging toppers in MPC and BiPC streams respectively. Narayana student N.
Sandhya created a record by securing highest-ever marks, 437 out of 440, in BiPC to top the state, according to information. Four students from Sri Chaitanya Group V. Deepika, Avala Akhila, P.S.S. Lakshman and B. Likitha emerged toppers with 466 out of 470 in MPC stream. In MEC stream, Sri Chaitanya students A.
Nikhil and K. Prudhvi Raj got 488 out of 500.

AP minister confident of Medical Council's approval

The Medical Council of India (MCI) is expected to approve an additional 200 MBBS seats in state medical colleges for the academic year 2012-13, medical education minister Kondru Murali said on Thursday.

Interacting with the media at the Secretariat, Mr Murali said the government has filled up all vacancies for teachers in government medical colleges as per MCI norms. This, he said, will help raise the number of seats in existing government colleges.

The state at present has 4,800 MBBS seats in its 37 medical colleges. Of them, nearly 1,200 are in the 13 state medical colleges and the rest in 24 private colleges.

The government was trying to secure an additional 500 MBBS seats in 10 government medical colleges by raising 50 seats in each institution.

But the MCI, which
recently inspected these colleges, is learnt to have expressed dissatisfaction over the existing faculty and infrastructure, saying it will not support additional seats.

However, Mr Murali expressed confidence that the MCI would soon add 50 seats each in four old government medical institutions, including Osmania and Gandhi Medical Colleges. He said the additional seats would be available for students in Eamcet medical counselling by July.
MCI, which recently inspected colleges in AP, is learnt to have expressed dissatisfaction over the existing infrastructure

The number of MBBS seats in old government medical colleges may be lowered, if the Medical Council of India has its way .
MBBS aspirants in the state are already reeling under severe shortage of seats. There are just 4,800 MBBS seats available in 37 medical colleges across the state. Last year, 70,000 candidates vied for these seats through Eamcet. This year, the number of applications has already crossed 95,000.

While the demand for MBBS seats has increased over last year, students face the risk of losing even the existing seats.

The MCI, which recently inspected the old government medical colleges in the state, is learnt to have conveyed its dissatisfaction over the enhancement of intake by 50 seats in these colleges. MCI made it clear that the existing infrastructure and faculty in these colleges are unable to support even the existing intake.

Officials are worried that the MCI may cut down the intake by 50 each in government medical colleges if the state fails to provide adequate funds immediately to take up fresh faculty recruitment drives and create additional infrastructure.

While Osmania Medical College has 200 seats, the other government medical colleges have 150 each. The government has proposed to enhance the seats by 50 each in 10 old government medical colleges, resulting in an addition of 500 seats.
Besides, there were plans to secure 100 seats each in three new private medical colleges. The MCI is yet to take a decision on this issue.

ISB signs pact with Institute Of Business Administration, Karachi for executive education

Hyderabad, April 13: The Indian School of Business (ISB) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi to provide executive education in Pakistan. The MoU was signed by Deepak Chandra, Deputy Dean, ISB and Dr Ishrat Husain, Dean and Director, IBA, Karachi, at the ISB campus.

The collaboration brings together the Centre for Executive Education (CEE) at ISB, one of the largest executive education providers in Asia and IBA, the oldest business school outside North America, to provide executive education courses to senior management executives looking to fast track their careers.

This strategic alliance with IBA further fortifies the ISB’s international footprint and reinforces its position as a thought-leader in the field of management education. The move also brings the school closer to realising its overarching mission to cater to the leadership needs of emerging markets by increasing interest in management best practices. Pakistan is one of the countries that have growth potential among evolving Asian economies necessitating the need for a leadership pipeline to fuel its growth

The course offerings will include ‘Open Programmes’ or short-duration programmes that are driven by research, ‘Custom-Designed Programmes’ or specialized courses devised to cater to specific needs of a particular organization as well as workshops and seminars. To begin with, the proposed programmes would focus on family business, entrepreneurship, business leadership, strategy and related domains. This would later be expanded to include programmes on Public Private Partnership (PPP) as well.

While ISB will focus on the design and delivery of the programmes, IBA will be responsible for their marketing and promotion. The programmes will be conducted by ISB’s globally renowned faculty. The first programme is slated to commence June, 2012.

New Delhi – All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Microsoft Corporation announced that AICTE is deploying Microsoft Live@edu as one solution amongst many such initiatives with IT majors and Industries, over the next three months to more than 10,000 technical colleges and institutes throughout India. The cloud deployment will expand students’ access to high-quality technical education and collaboration.

In one such initiative being implemented, Live@edu is a hosted communication and collaboration service that offers email, Microsoft Office Web Apps, instant messaging and storage to AICTE’s more than 7 million students and nearly 500,000 faculty members, for a total reach of 7.5 million users – roughly double the size of the Los Angeles population – making AICTE Microsoft’s largest cloud customer ever. Live@edu is the first step in AICTE’s deployment of Microsoft cloud computing for education. AICTE also plans to deploy Microsoft Office 365 for education when it becomes available later this year, providing access to Microsoft Exchange Online email and calendar, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Lync Online and Microsoft Office Professional as the technical infrastructure to support member colleges and institutes.

The implementation is already underway and is being managed by Microsoft and a set of Live@edu partners. Full deployment is expected to be complete by summer 2012.

Live@edu is the leading cloud suite for education, with more than 22 million people using the service worldwide. At 7.5 million users, the AICTE deployment is the largest cloud deployment ever. Other recent Live@edu adoptions include a 700,000 cloud-based collaboration solution for the Kentucky Department of Education. The online service helps educational institutions provide email and enterprise-grade online tools to students and faculty while helping to reduce costs and simplify IT management.

Hyderabad: The state government has constituted a team of observers to suggest ways to increase efficiency in the medical post-graduation counselling 2012-13 process, conducted by Dr NTR University of Health Sciences, Vijayawada, from April 16 as per the rules, regulations and procedures in vogue. 
    Special chief secretary G Sudhir stated on Friday that Dr PV Nandakumar Reddy, professor of ophthalmology at Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital/Osmania Medical College, has been designated as team leader. 
    Ramana Raju, additional director (administration) in the department of medical health has been named member of the said team along with Dr Babu Rao, assistant professor of Social and Preventive Medicine at Osmania Medical College. 
    Once the counseling process is over and the team has collected the necessary information, the team leader has been asked to submit a detailed report on their findings to the government which will help it better understand the salient aspects of the counselling process and its shortcomings, if any. 
    The team is also expected to recommend appropriate measures for improvement in the procedure with an eye on the future. 
    The team, however, shall not interfere with the counselling process per se. 
    The vice-chancellor of Dr NTR University of Health Sciences has been asked to extend necessary co-operation and support to the team of observers, the official said.

The first-ever online Eamcet application system has got a positive response, receiving 3.87 lakh applications. The examination will be held on May 12. There were a record 1.65 lakh applications from women this year. July. The Eamcet results will be announced on May 24, within 12 days of the exam on May 12. ment to announce Eamcet ranks based on Inter exam main results and without waiting for supplementary results. With this, we can finish engineering counselling by June-end and start classes from July, saving two months for students besides preventing migration of students to other states due to delay in admissions,” said Prof N.V.

The Supreme Court on Thursday put its stamp on the validity of the Right to Education Act’s provision, making it mandatory for private schools to admit 25 per cent students from weaker sections of the society to supplement the government’s efforts on universalisation of elementary education. But the verdict on the validity of the Act came with a dissenting order by one of the judges in a three judges’ bench, headed by Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia. schools getting government aid. cle 30(1) of the Constitution, which gave the minorities a right to run educational institutions “exclusively” for their children if they are not provided any aid. Chief Justice of India S.H Kapadia-led Supreme Court bench passed the order with a 2:1 majority in which it upheld the constitutional validity of the Right To Education (RTE) Act, providing for reservation of 25 per cent seats for poor children in all government, private aided and unaided schools but not in minority institutions. K.S. Radhakrishnan, who gave a dissenting judgement, said that the provision for 25 per cent com pulsory free seats would not apply either to unaided private institutions or to unaided minority schools. However, the majority verdict described the RTE Act as a legislation which is a necessity for the country where a vast section of the children were left out. CJI says use of RTI going beyond limit CJI S.H. Kapadia on Thursday said the RTI law was “good“ but there should be a limit as information was being sought on issues such as attending lunches. “It is going beyond a limit,“ he said. 

Photo used for illustrative purpose

CHENNAI: Students will have a second shot at the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) in the same year if the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) has its way. The ministry has proposed conducting the test, replacing theIIT-JEE and the AIEEE for admission to IITs, NITs, IIITs and other centrally funded technical institutions, once in April and a second time in November or December the same year. It will release the details of the test on April 16.

"It is proposed that the JEE test will be conducted at least twice a year so that students who wish to attempt more than once can be allowed to do so in a year," said a note from the MHRD, giving details of the admission procedure from 2013.Experts suggested this could mean that the institutions may consider admissions twice a year, but IIT faculty were non-committal on the matter.

"Several reasons are being given for the proposal. Nothing has been finalized yet. The authorities expect the test to slowly be part of the admission process for all technical institutions in the country, some of which may consider admissions twice a year," said IIT-Madras director Bhaskar Ramamurthi. He said the MHRD reasons that if a candidate does badly in the first test in April, he/she could try again the same year. Another reason is that it could probably bring down the load of candidates taking the test in a year, making it easier to conduct the test.

The MHRD also suggested that from 2013, students aspiring for a seat in technical institutions cannot go easy on their language exam. The percentile rank of students in the board exams will also be specified in the JEE result and will be calculated based on the scores obtained in the boards in physics, chemistry, mathematics, one language subject, and the best subject among the electives taken by the student. "Often class 12 students taking the maths - physics - chemistry - computer science group slack off on the last subject because only the first three are considered for admission to a technical institute. With such a component, they will have to accord equal importance to computer science or an equivalent subject as well," said a Chennai school correspondent.

The test will have two papers - main and advance - lasting three hours each. Taking the views of the IIT Faculty Federation into consideration, the ministry has said the exam will not only test the foundational understanding of the candidate in physics, chemistry and mathematics learned throughout school, but also the psychometric and problem-solving abilities of students, as well as their problem formulation and incisive thinking capabilities. "IIT-JEE only has problems based on concepts in physics, chemistry and mathematics that students will have to provide solutions for," said professor Arindhama Singh, IIT-JEE chairman for the Madras zone.

In addition to the marks in the three components, a Centrally Funded Technical Institutes (CFTI) rank will also be given to each candidate. The rank will be determined according to the following weightage - board marks - 40%, main test - 30%, advance test - 30%. The ministry has said that the syllabus for the main and advance tests will be the same, and will be prescribed by the academic group of JEE each year.

Admission to IITs, NITs and IIITs will be through a single window online counselling system based on the CFTI rank. The ministry wants to create several committees - including a JEE Apex Board (JAB), a JEE Academic Group (JAG), a JEE Delivery Group (JDG) and a JEE Interface Group (JIG) - to conduct the exam efficiently. The JEE Apex Body will be constituted by IIT-NIT Council and will include representative directors of IIT, NIT and IIITs, a representative of the ministry and the chairman of CBSE and AICTE.

 Admission to the prestigious IITs in India is hereafter likely to be granted by conducting a general aptitude-cum-advanced knowledge test. The government has decided to do away with IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) from 2013 onwards.


The marks scored in the aptitude test would be given 60% weightage while plus two school board marks would be given 40% weightage for deciding the admission list into an IIT. Admissions to all centrally funded institutions will be based on the aptitude test and board marks. The common aptitude test could be given twice a year. Students will also be able to take the test online from 2014.

The test will have two sections – simple aptitude testing to determine the candidate’s ability and an advanced section aspirants can choose not to write.


“It’s good that the exam is in two sections. It’ll reduce our burden and we can concentrate more on specific subjects,” said Meera Mohan, a higher secondary student in Trivandrum.

Photo used for illustrative purpose

Vijayawada: Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences Post Basic Nursing Admission Notification 2012 has been released. The University has invited from the eligible women candidates only for admission into Post Basic B.Sc (Nursing) course for the academic year 2011-12. The latest notification is additional one in line with the AP High Court order on eligibility and some other issues.
The candidates who have already applied in response to earlier Notification issued 22.07.2011 need not apply again.
The eligibility for admission in to Post Basic B.Sc.,(Nursing) Course is as per the 1) Pass in GNM Course 2) Intermediate or Equivalent Examination 3) Candidate should not be more than 45 Years of age and for SC/ST Candidates, the maximum age is relaxed by 03 Years.
Dr. NTR Health University Post Basic Nursing Admission Important Dates:
–Post Basic B.Sc Nursing Application form Download available from 08-04-2012 from 10.00 A.M. to 15-04-2012 by 05.00 P.M.
–Last date for submission of filled in application forms on or before 16-04-2012 by 5.00 PM
Merit List will be displayed on 23-04-2012 at 01.00 PM
Address for Contact:
The Convener,
Under Graduate Admissions Committee,
Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences,
Vijayawada – 520 008.
NTR Health University Websites for Download forms and Prospectus:
http://ntruhs.ap.nic.in
http://119.226.156.211/

dents to enable them to use it for purchasing books and other academic needs. ment credits the amount in four instalments and they will return the `4,500 only after they receive the entire reimbursement amount at the end of the academic year. Amount `adjusted' `We return the amount to students who pay special fee, exam fee etc. as per norms. But a majority of them do not pay that, and we have to adjust this amount,“ said Zafar Javeed, general secretary, Federation of AP Minority Educational Institutions.