NEET result may raise demand for agri courses, TNAU vice-chancellor says

COIMBATORE: The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is expected to increase the demand for agricultural courses, said vice-chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) K Ramasamy on Tuesday.
With many students, especially from the Tamil Nadu state board, being wary about clearing the test, MBBS aspirants are thinking to take up agriculture or allied courses this year.
“Looking at the number of enquiries we received this year, we expect to see a strong demand for agriculture. The results of NEET will play a crucial role,” said Ramasamy.
On Tuesday, Ramasamy announced the commencement of admissions from May 12. “The Class 12 state board results are expected to be announced on May 12. We will have our online application system opened for students after that,” he added.
Ramasamy said in the last few years there have been remarks that engineering aspirants migrate to agriculture after taking up a seat in engineering. “This year we are conducting the agriculture counselling ahead of engineering so that such problems are avoided,” he said.
In 2016, a total of 39,772 candidates applied for the single-window counselling. Of this, 22,395 applicants were girls, while 14,473 were boys. “A total of four transgender people applied for counselling last year, of which one was awarded a seat. But, she chose to migrate to veterinary science,” said Ramasamy.
Professors of TNAU also say that nearly 2% of the agriculture candidates migrate to veterinary sciences.
TNAU has 14 constituent colleges and 21 affiliated colleges. It offers 13 undergraduate courses in science and technology. There are a total of 2,820 seats in the constituent and affiliated colleges, of which 1,220 seats of constituent colleges will be filled through the single-window counselling.
“Among the 1,600 seats in the affiliated colleges, 65% will be filled through the counselling process, while the rest can be filled under the management quota,” said Ramamsamy. “But, for a candidate to be eligible for management seat, he/she should have filled the online application form,” he added.
The number of seats in BSc agriculture in affiliated colleges could increase by 10% as a new college is expected to be given permission before the commencement of the counselling on June 19. “The no-objection certificate has been awarded. Meanwhile, we are waiting for the academic council of the university to carry out inspections in the first week of June. Based on the report we will decide on awarding the affiliation,” said Ramasamy.
On the other hand, the BSc in home science has been changed to BSc in food, nutrition and dietetics. “This is based on the direction of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. We will also be changing the name of the college from Home Science College and Research Institute, Madurai to Community Science College and Research Institute,” he said.