Bangalore: Engineering Seat Allocation to Go Online Next Year
 
Bangalore, Dec 5 (Bangalore Mirror): After clearing the entrance exams, engineering aspirants will no longer have to attend multiple counselling rounds to decide the college they would like to join. All they will have to do, log into a website, select the colleges of their choice and leave the rest to the system.

It may sound difficult to digest, but this is what the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) is planning to do from the next year - replace the conventional method of counselling with an online version.
 
According to sources, the system will allot seats according to the candidates’ ranks and other aspects. Besides saving the students and their parents the pain of going to the KEA office for multiple rounds of counselling, the KEA believes that the new system will shorten the tedious month-long process of seat allotment.
 
KEA executive director and PU director Rashmi V said,“We are working on this model with the target to help the candidates from the coming academic year. We are looking into the Surathkal model.”

 
The process

To begin with, KEA will introduce online application forms from the next year. Student will have to register online with soft copies of their photographs and other documents for the examination and the fee at a designated place. Once the examination is finished and results are announced, the KEA will call in students for verification of documents. Once the KEA announces the start of online process, the candidates will have to log in and mark their choices from a list of available colleges and the system will allot the seats, sources said.
 
If the candidate is happy with the allotted seat, he can go to the college by obtaining a provisional certificate. In case he is not satisfied, he can go for the second online round where he has to change his preference according to available options. This will be followed by three more such rounds. If the candidate is still not satisfied with the allotted seat at the end of the fifth round, he will have the final option of a spot registration wherein he has to select a seat, the sources added.
 
At present, KEA is sending out teams to Surathkal, where online counselling is being conducted for National Institutes of Technology (NIT) based on AIEEE scores, to familiarise themselves with their system. The KEA teams will also visit Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat to make the online counselling process a fool proof method.
 
 
Challenges

This process may mount challenges for KEA as the number of engineering aspirants usually varies between 30,000 and 50,000 and there is a possibility of a large number of students opting for the same set of colleges. KEA officials believe that since the seats are allotted electronically according to the ranks, there will be no room for malpractice.

How it works

1. Online registration
 
2. Students log in, look at the availability list and lock their choices
 
3. First round of online allotment
 
4. If satisfied, candidates will report to college. If not, they will go for the second round
 
5. The KEA will announce the tentative number of candidates reported and admitted
 
6. The same process continues till fifth round
 
7. If still not satisfied, candidates can register for spot allocation
 
8. Join the allocated institution.