More students will be eligible for admission in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITS) in 2012, but this does not necessarily mean a guarantee of entry into the country’s premier institutions.

The IIT-Delhi will announce the results of IIT-JEE 2012 on Friday, and more than 25,000 students are expected to be eligible for admission in the premier institutes, nearly double of the number in 2011 (13, 600).

This is because the IITS have decided to lower the cut-off marks for general students to 35%, compared to 47.7% in 2011. In addition to the aggregate, the students are required to score minimum marks in physics, maths and chemistry to be eligible for the all-india rank.

GB Reddy, Chairman of JEE 2012, explained the aggregates were announced well in advance to help students prepare for the examination. “The aggregate is the bottom-line of the rank,” he told HT, refusing to disclose the number of students who will make it to all-india rank.

Having more students on the eligibility list will enable IITS to call more students for counselling. While two students will be called for each general category seat, it will be up to three in the case of reserved seats.

Even HRD minister Kapil Sibal had stressed on making admissions to premier institutions — IIT's and IIM's — more inclusive. According to an official, a bigger basket of students will help the institutes widen their scope of absorption without compromising on quality.

However, the higher number of eligible students is not a reason for cheer. “The number of seats in IITS will be the same. So, the number of students to be called will be same as last year,” said IIT Kharagpur professor Rajiv Kumar, whose PIL in the SC had pushed the IITS to open up. Only short-listed candidates, who pay the initial admission fee of Rs.40,000 (for general category) and Rs.20,000 (for OBCS), are eligible for counselling.

Once the counselling process is over, the student has to take the course offered or forfeit the admission fee, resulting in seats at “not-so-preferred IIT courses” to remain vacant. “There is no option to withdraw,” Kumar said, suggesting that IITS should provide an option of refund like other technical institutes.

Source: www.hindustantimes.com

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