AICTE norms impact CET results

BANGALORE: The Common Entrance Test (CET) 2011 results were announced on Monday afternoon. The CET was held on April 27 and 28 across the state. Out of 1,07,820 candidates who appeared for the CET, 13,197 candidates have become eligible for admission to medical and dental courses, 54,804 for Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy (ISMH) courses, 64,936 for engineering and technology courses and 728 candidates for the Architecture course. The list includes spot ranking too.
Higher Education Minister Dr V S Acharya, announced the CET results on Monday afternoon. This is year lesser number of students have qualified for engineering when compared to 2010. As many as 73,600 students had qualified for engineering courses in 2010, Acharya said. "This is because of the AICTE norms where the eligibility criteria for SC/ST students has been increased to 45 per cent when compared to 2010 when it was just 40 per cent. The general merit eligibility criteria has also been raised to 50 per cent this year when compared to 45 per cent last year," he noted. Acharya also informed that in the range of 40 to 49.99 percentage there are 17,217 students. "But,as per the AICTE direction, we have not allotted ranking to them. We fear that this may lead to further increase in the number of vacant engineering seats in the state," he said adding that there were 8,000 vacant seats last year. On the other hand, the number of students eligible for admission to medical and dental courses is increased by nearly two times compared to last year. Acharya said last year only 4,942 students were allotted medical and dental rankings. "But this year this number has gone up to 13,197," he said.