More than 600 applications were received in the first two days itself after the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), Panjab University (PU) started admissions for Bachelors in Engineering (BE) course on Wednesday.
As per officials, 695 registrations were received, out of which 288 have already paid the fees till Thursday evening.
Besides UIET, four other institutes, including Dr SSB University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (SSBUICET), PU; Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET), Sector 26; Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA), Sector 12; and UIET Hoshiarpur have formed a joint action committee (JAC) for conducting admission in various BE and BArch courses through their online portal.
Students who wish to apply for these courses can visit the website https://jacchd.admissions.nic.in/.
UIET, among these, is the most prominent institute with the most, 753, seats. CCET has 313 seats, UIET Hoshiarpur has 300, UICET has 217 and CCA 44 for the upcoming academic session. Officials said that the number of seats remain unchanged as compared to last year. Speaking about the admission process, UIET director Sanjeev Puri said, “We are delighted with the response that UIET has gotten and it shows how much in demand the institute has become. Our placements have grown with help from the PU alumni and our faculty is also in demand.”
Prof JK Goswamy explained that UIET began the admission process well in time. The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main results were declared on April 25 which provided ample time to students. During previous years, the admission process was delayed, leading to some students opting for other private colleges.
Last year, the most sought after branch, for general quota, was BE computer science and engineering, with a closing rank of 47,344 followed by BE information technology with closing rank 56,206 and BE electronics and communication engineering with closing rank 73,303. The last rank able to get admission was 2,34,936, in BE biotechnology.
With the varsity getting category 1 autonomy by University Grants Commission (UGC), UIET also plans to avail the benefit of this new status and plans to start several new minor courses for its BE students. Director Puri explained that these will be optional courses, which students can opt for in their fourth semester, will carry 20 credits . Various courses on artificial intelligence, cyber security and data analytics will be rolled out, looking at the needs of the industry.
The 2024-25 batch will be eligible to apply for the courses in 2025, when they are in their second year.