Web counseling was a blessing when it came to handle huge number of students. Dr MD Christopher was all praises for NIC, which took more than a year to come up with this. Talking about this Dr. Ragunath, Officer Incharge, NIC, said that For the Convenience of the Candidates from the academic year 2009-10, Government has decided to adopt a total web based counseling procedure where a candidate can exercise options i.e. candidate can select branches like polytechnic, engineering, medicine etc., which he/she intends to study, through internet centre or internet facility available at his/her residence. In case of absence of access to such facility help line centers will be established by Govt in the districts.

Talking about the EAMCET counseling a decade ago, Dr Christopher says, “Since the number of students was relatively small compared to today, we were able to handle that, but with a sudden boom in the candidates we were overloaded, which obviously lead to operational errors in online counseling. It was at this point that we thought of web counseling”

What was the modus operandi with online counseling?

We had eight helpline centers across the State when were carrying out online counseling. We had two parallel facilities, one with Polytechnic network and the other the University network. We were earlier dependant on the Polytechnic network completely. But counseling for EdCet, polytechnic, MBA, MCA etc was all included, as a result medical and engineering was getting delayed. Earlier students used to attend counselling, on given date and time, since this was done rank-wise, only when the initial rankers complete their counselling remaining ones in the queue could follow, otherwise the whole system would come to a grinding halt, this delayed the entire process. Also network jam was also hampering. Present system takes care of all such important details to usher the process and help things progress smoothly.

Is there an increase in the number of engineering colleges in the last decade?

Today we have 659 engineering colleges in the State; the number is multifold, compared to a couple of years ago, this is one of the strong reasons why web-based counseling was recommended. We have created almost 50 helpline centers across the State, equipped with the computer and internet facilities. You could refer to - http://www.apsche.org/documents/web_counseling.pdf  for procedural details.

The greatest advantage of this system is that the students can go for counseling anytime, all he have to have is-to have his priority of colleges listed out clearly on a piece of paper, before he actually starts the process. This will enable him to focus on the college he wants to get into. For instance there was slight confusion about the web counselling last year where students dint go with a clear mindset about their priority of colleges and ended up with a muddled list which confused them later as they wanted to change the college.

Do you foresee any confusion/errors in the forthcoming couselling session?
 
Not really. Following the given instructions and operating accordingly would avoid the priority list chaos, as I already mentioned. To avoid the above confusion I would strongly suggest having his/her priority of colleges listed out clearly on a piece of paper, before starting the process. This would save him a lot of time near the computer.

Is there any slab/restriction on the number of colleges a student can list?

No. In fact students can list out all the 1500 hundred colleges, if he/she has the inclinationand time. Students need to do this cautiously and recheck the names of the colleges they have prioritized. For example if the student holding a good rank and the possibility of getting admission in one of the best colleges , out of ignorance or negligence has given the name of not a very popular or good college first and the name of a very good institute in the 5th or 6th position, he/she will be given admission in the mediocre college ONLY.

In case of a wrong choice preference from the students’ end wouldn’t there be any scope to undo the mistake?

There is a scope, student will have to redo the work within the stipulated time frame and change his options any number of times. In fact, students will be given a final chance even after crossing the deadline, if they pay penalty and submit their final list. After this the system is locked.

What about students who are not having know-how on computers?

We are providing assistance at every center, as we do understand in some rural pockets students are not computer-savvy. I would also like to clarify if the student wishes to do it from home with the help of the parents, he may do so.

What are the precautions a student needs to take?

Students should not reveal their passwords to anybody, even to their close friends.

What is your advise to all those who would go into the counseling soon?

I would request students to be more cautious with the selection and preferences. It so happened last year, that many toppers got into mediocre colleges only because of their callousness in marking the right college in the list.

When would the counselling begin?

We are waiting for the intermediate results to be announced after which the Convener would take 5days to come out with the ranks. Since the MBA and MCA counselling would start around 15th July, which would take us almost ten to twelve days, we will take up the engineering only after the first phase counselling of MBA and MCA. This would be roughly in the last week of July. If things go as per plan we will be able to start classes for the engineering students in the third week of August. I would like to mention that we will be starting this year’s classes a month earlier unlike last year (classes started in September).

What about the counselling for Medicine, Dental and Nursing courses?

All the above will be handled by the NTR University, Vijayawada. We are certainly helping them by providing them with our online counselling/ helpline centers. In all probability their admissions would be concluded before the end of July. Since we have the system in place, it should not take more than five days for this.

As a parting note Mr. Christopher expressed his concern over innumerable engineering colleges that have mushroomed all over the State, haphazardly. He says there must be a quality check on the infrastructure and the academic standards of these institutes, only then can we expect a quality in the students graduating. Government needs to be more vigilant with such institutes, especially because the Government is providing fee aid to the students.