Andhra Pradesh reserves 35% BTech, agri seats in pvt universities, fixes fee structure

Reserved seats will be assigned to candidates by the government based on Common Entrance Test conducted at the state level. 

Andhra Pradesh has decided to reserve 35 per cent of BTech and BSc Agriculture (Hons) seats in private universities under the government quota. Not only this, the state government will decide the fee structure for these seats and private universities will also have to follow mandated reservation criteria. 

The state government will also pay the fees of those students who are eligible for fee reimbursement under ‘Jagananna Vidya Deevena’, chairman of Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE), Hemachandra Reddy said. 

As per the notification dated October 24, the arrangement is for the block periods of 2021-22 and 2022-23. The fee cap ranges from Rs 40,000 to Rs 70,000 and applies to SRM University Amaravati, VIT University Amaravati, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Vizianagaram, and Bharatiya Engineering Science & Technology Innovation University, Anantapur. 

Reddy said, “The aim is to make quality and affordable education available to every single student in Andhra Pradesh. For long now, a lot of students hailing from poor or middle class families were either overburdened or had to forego their seats in private universities due to the exorbitant fees collected by the authorities. That is the reason the government has decided to fix the fee.” 

The 35 per cent ‘reserved’ seats will be assigned to candidates by the government, based on the Common Entrance Test conducted at the state level. No University will have the right to collect more fees or give out seats which have been reserved under the quota. 

Policy not for deemed universities 

However, the policy doesn’t apply to deemed universities, as the regulatory body is the UGC, but the government has already written to the UGC, asking the body to permit the government to do so, keeping in mind the larger good, officials said.  

Read more: 

• Karnataka DCTE, Infosys to transform method of technical learning 
• IIT Roorkee invites applications for online PG certificate course in AI