Engg. aspirants caught in ‘web’

Web counselling introduced from this academic year for engineering and pharmacy courses doesn’t seem to be fair for students since it robs them of the comfort factor while choosing their choice of course and institution.

The process that is likely to reduce the cumbersome counselling procedure will create more problems for students rather than making them comfortable, feels J.R. Subrahmanayam, an IT expert who is involved with the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQUIP) of World Bank.

Though more than 3,000 options are being offered, students will not be able to exercise more than 20 to 30 options.

Realistically, every student looks at not more than 30 options taking into account the quality of college and proximity, which are two parameters that are generally considered while taking admission. In the previous online counselling procedure students had this advantage of comparison between these parameters vis-À-vis the choice of course. Even the top rankers will have a slight disadvantage in this aspect in web counselling and they may land up in the less preferred college or course, he feels.

Academics also remind that future of the student would get locked up during the counselling and now they would be taking a blind shot through this process. “How can such an unfair situation be allowed for counselling if the government feels the procedure is cumbersome and time consuming,” Prof. Subrahmanyam asks.

The possibility of candidates getting closer to their choice looks uncertain through web counselling, he feels.

Moreover, students will be choosing their preferences based on last year’s seat matrix but demand for courses change from time-to-time and previous year’s matrix cannot be the right model, feel many teachers. For example preference for Computer Sciences and IT will come down drastically this year unlike last year. A year before that situation was totally different. Such wild swings cannot be the basis for choosing preferences.
Apprehensions

Teachers also feel that web counselling for Polytechnics and Engineering colleges cannot be compared given the huge variations in numbers, demand, background of students and the value of degree. Moreover, the government has done little to infuse confidence among students and parents on the process apart from making them comfortable with the new system.