Classes for first-year engineering students will begin on October 25, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudi has said.
A total of 5,970 candidates have been admitted to engineering colleges under the 7.5% special reservation for government school students. The Higher Education Minister said all students admitted under the quota would be accommodated in colleges.
He told reporters that admissions to all courses in State-run universities, including Anna University, would follow the State’s 69% reservation policy.
Admissions to the M. Tech Biotechnology programme at Anna University will be conducted by the university, he said. The two-year interdisciplinary programme has been supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) since 1986.
Until 2019, the Jawaharlal Nehru University conducted the combined entrance examination for biotechnology, and candidates admitted to the programme received ₹1 lakh as annual scholarship.
After the Union government introduced the 10% quota for economically weaker sections, the university was advised to follow the norm, but it refused to do so as the State had not adopted the quota system.
Mr. Ponmudi said the Chief Minister would be writing in a couple of days to the Union Education Minister that the State would conduct its own entrance test for admissions.
