CHENNAI: The number of students applying for the undergraduate veterinary science and animal husbandry courses in Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Tanuvas) has increased by 20% compared to the last academic year.
A university official said the numbers exceeded the overall applicants last year. “The university received 15,580 applications for BVSc & AH and B Tech courses combined last year. This year, it has received 15,732 applications for the BVSc course alone and 3,028 applications for B Tech courses. The deadline to apply for counselling is October 8,” the official said.
Experts point towards the Class XII weightage system adopted by the government this year. The number of students scoring above 550 out of 600 marks has increased by 16 times this year. “More top scorers in Class XII this year is the reason for the increase in applications to professional courses including engineering and veterinary sciences,” explained educational consultant D Nedunchezhiyan.
Pointing towards the uncertainty in securing an MBBS seat, career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi said most medical aspirants have applied for veterinary and agriculture courses keeping them as their Plan B.
Admission to the five-year BVSc &AH course is based on Class XII marks. Based on the aggregate marks in physics, chemistry and biology, the university releases a merit list. There are 480 BVSc seats in seven veterinary colleges under the university’s control and 15% of the seats are reserved for intake under the all-India quota. Apart from science, the score in mathematics is also taken into account for admission to B Tech courses. The university has 100 seats across B Tech food technology, poultry technology and dairy technology courses in three colleges.
