EAMCET (medical) to be held irrespective of NEET outcome

Admissions to veterinary and agriculture courses are based on it. Whether NEET is made compulsory or not, science students have to take the medical stream test of EAMCET if they wish to seek admissions in veterinary and agriculture courses.

Irrespective of the Supreme Court’s final direction to the States on the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET), the State government will conduct the EAMCET next year, including the medical examination for the science students.

The medical stream test has to be conducted as admissions to veterinary and agriculture courses are based on it. So whether NEET is made compulsory or not, science students have to take the medical stream test of EAMCET if they wish to seek admissions in veterinary and agriculture courses.

Since almost all the aspirants appearing for the medical stream of EAMCET opt for veterinary and agriculture courses once the MBBS and BDS seats are finished, there is no point in worrying about NEET or EAMCET. “If NEET is made mandatory also they have to write medical stream of EAMCET for admission into other courses. So its better they concentrate on their preparation without worrying about the outcome in Supreme Court,” an official said.

The Supreme Court is likely to give its verdict in mid-January on whether States have to mandatorily opt for NEET or conduct their own tests for the next academic year. Some States, including Andhra Pradesh, have moved to Supreme Court seeking some more time to be part of NEET.

Meanwhile, the government is busy finalising the dates of all the entrance exams. APSCHE Chairman P. Jayaprakash Rao said that the dates of all entrance tests would be announced by January 10. The government has already decided to entrust the responsibility of conducting the tests to the same universities that conducted the tests this year. Even the Conveners are likely to be the same.

FEE STRUCTURE

Prof. Rao also said that the process of finalising the fee structure for all professional courses would start soon and the notification concerned would also be issued in January. College managements would have enough time to submit their proposals so that AFRC could fix the fee accordingly. “We want to stick to the AICTE schedule on the academic calendar and will ensure that classes started on August 1 after completion of admission process by July-end,” Prof. Rao said.

You can Submit NEET-UG forms Online

The online window for submission of application forms for the maiden national eligibility cum entrance test for undergraduate (NEET-UG) medical and dental courses is now open. Students can submit their forms by accessing the website - www.cbseneet.nic.in - for the single entrance test, which is to be held on May 5, 2013.

The Maharashtra government has already conveyed to the central government its commitment to be a part of the NEET-UG scheme from 2013 onwards. Consequently, the Maharashtra Health and Technology Common Entrance Test (MHT-CET), which was the combined entrance exam for admissions to the health sciences, engineering and pharmacy degree courses in the state, has been scrapped. The exam has since been renamed MT-CET for the engineering and pharmacy courses.

The state directorate of medical education and research (DMER) has posted a detailed notification related to the NEET-UG, which will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The Union government had published the NEET-UG 2013 exam plan for medical and dental admissions in the official gazette on February 15, while the Medical Council of India issued a notification on April 26 declaring that there will be a single national eligibility cum entrance test.

In Maharashtra, the NEET-UG will also be mandatory for admissions to the other health science degree courses such as ayurveda (BAMS), homeopathy ( BHMS), unani (BUMS), physiotheraphy (BPTh), occupational therapy (BOTh), prosthetics and orthotics (BP&O), audiology and speech, language pathology (BASLP), BSc nursing and paramedical technology (BPMT), the DMER notification states.

The DMER has cautioned all candidates aspiring for a seat in health science courses other than medical and dental, to ensure that they appear in the NEET-UG 2013 to qualify for admissions to the other courses. "The state government will not be responsible if such desirous candidates fail to apply for NEET-UG 2013," the notification states.

The NEET 2013 will be conducted in 16 cities in the state. In Pune, the DAV Public School on the DP Road, Aundh has been designated as the facilitation centre for the candidates from the city.

An admission notice issued by the CBSE states that the NEET-UG shall consist of one paper containing 180 objective type questions, ie, each question carrying four options with single correct answer, from physics, chemistry and biology (botany and zoology). The duration of the paper would be three hours.NEET-UG important dates.

Manipal University will introduce 12 new courses

 Manipal University will introduce 12 new courses in the forthcoming academic year. At present the varsity is offering 320 courses in 18 streams. 

GK Prabhu, registrar of Manipal University, said here on Monday that the university would conduct online entrance tests (OET) for all its courses, including MBBS, BTech and BPharm from April 15 to May 15, 2013. The number of test centres has been increased from 30 to 50 this year, he added. 

"There is no clarity in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical courses introduced by the Union government. As a result several deemed universities have moved court. We have also moved court against NEET and if the Supreme Court directs us to admit students through NEET, we will do that. However, we will conduct the online entrance tests as per the schedule," he added.

This year, the university has added a new feature to the entrance test. The candidates will be allowed to take a second test, if they are not satisfied with their performance in the first attempt. "The better score will be considered for the merit list," he said. 

He also said that even though there is a need for more nurses in the country, there is a decline in the demand for nursing courses. To encourage more students to take up the course, the university has introduced scholarships for nursing students. 

"Candidates who have scored above 80% in their 12th standard exam and whose parents' family income is below 12.5 lakh are eligible for the scholarship," he added. 

The university has also increased the funds set aside for scholarships from Rs 18.13 crore to Rs 25.01 crore. "There is also a 10 percentage tuition fee waiver in all course for Konkani speaking students," he said. 

A few seats in all the courses are reserved for schools and colleges of Academy of General Education. Some of the scholarships offered are Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) scholarship for qualified students, All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) scholarship, merit-cum-means scholarship. 

Odisha Joint Entrance Examination on May 12

The Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) for admission into various undergraduate and postgraduate professional courses in the state will be held on May 12.

The state policy planning board, the apex body to take decision on admission matters in technical institutions, decided the date on Saturday. "Except for medical courses, the entrance test will be held as usual for other professional courses," OJEE secretary Priybrata Sahu told reporters. The OJEE was held on May 6 last year.

The entrance will screen students for admission into engineering, pharmacy, MBA, MCA, among other streams. Sahu said the details of application procedures and dates of application, fees, centres, examination pattern and syllabi will be notified shortly.

"We would like to start application procedures early so that maximum students from the state and outside are able to apply," Sahu said. The government is trying to attract maximum students for the entrance as thousands of engineering seats have been falling vacant for past three to four years. There was no admission for around 26,000 engineering seats in 2011.

It will be for the first time that medical entrance will not be part of OJEE as seats in state medical colleges will be filled through the maiden national eligibility cum entrance test (NEET 2013), the over-arching pre-medical entrance replacing state level examinations.

The OJEE authorities' announcement comes on the same day as the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declaration to hold NEET on May 5 across the country. Application process for NEET started on Saturday.

Odisha Private Engineering College Association has welcomed the early announcement of OJEE date. In previous years, government used to announce OJEE dates in January-February by when dates of similar entrance tests in neighbouring states were already out. This reduced prospective candidates for Odisha test in absence of enough time to publicize. Because of early announcement, we hope for a very good response this year, said OPECA honorary secretary Binod Dash.

The OJEE authorities had started selling forms for last year entrance from February 10. This year, the same is likely to start in early January. Entrance fee is likely to remain unchanged at Rs 550.