AP tech colleges, council differ over cut-off marks.

The AICTE head made it clear that all the engineering colleges should reserve up to five per cent seats for economically backward students.

The chairman of the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Prof. S.S. Mantha, was cornered by the managements of private engineering colleges over the new norms at an interactive session held at JNTUKukatpally on Saturday.

While Prof. Mantha said the 50 per cent cut off marks in 10+2 is compulsory for engineering admissions from this year irrespective of the Eamcet rank, the college managements said this rule will push hundreds of colleges into crisis. They pointed out that already 95,000 seats remained vacant out of 2.8 lakh seats available in the state, and the new cut-off norm will further aggravate the problem. He also made it clear that all the engineering colleges should reserve up to five per cent of their seats for students from economically backward classes from this year. The managements also opposed this norm.
Moreover, they found fault with the AICTE for insisting on the managements to implement the revised pay scales for faculty and for effecting steep increase in processing fee for various administrative works without addressing the “low tuition fee structure” implemented in AP.

“The fee for engineering courses in AP is `31,000 per annum, which is the lowest in the country. With this meagre amount, you want us to maintain world-class standards. You want us to implement revised pay scales for faculty. When you are so particular about quality, you should also ensure that we are paid fees accordingly,” said Mr Madhusudhan Rao, a representative of engineering college.

Source : DC