Anna University counselling goes online: Students get 48 hrs to pick course now​

Anna University has finally launched online counselling and candidates will now get 48 hours to confirm their choice unlike before when they would only get a couple of minutes
Students will now not have to come all the way to Chennai for their counselling
Students will now not have to come all the way to Chennai for their counselling

Anna University is the latest institution to open up their doors to online counseling for engineering, making it easier for students from across Tamil Nadu by saving them a trip to Chennai. Established in 1985, the University holds one of the biggest counselling sessions every year, attracting students from across the state. Now for the first time ever, the counselling is going to be a full-fledged online affair — and this has been nearly three years in the making.

Rhymend Uthariaraj, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions said that the process had been initiated in 2015, "A committee was constituted in 2015 to oversee the implementation of the online counselling initiative. This has been a step-by-step process and we have tried to analyze as many aspects as possible to ensure students don't face any difficulties while applying."

While many are applauding the new move, there has been some criticism towards the initiative because it might exclude those students in remote areas or students who don't have access to computers. However, the University has taken all these aspects into consideration and claims to have made the whole procedure completely inclusive.

Uthariaraj said that there are 42 TNEA Facilitation centres across the state in order to tend to the needs of the students. For students in rural areas or those without access to computers can come to these centres and be able to get access to internet-enabled computers, printers and all other facilities they might need.

Another great aspect of this year's counselling is that students have three days to make their choice about the college they prefer and two days to confirm their pick - something that didn't exist till last year, students had to immediately make a choice once their seat was confirmed. 

Besides one centre in all the 32 districts, extra centres have been set up in certain districts depending on the number of applicants in the region, "After analysing the data from the last three years, we have been able to determine the regions where we have large numbers of students who will be applying, so in those areas we have a few more." 

Instead of coming all the way to Chennai, students can now just go to the TNEA centre in their own districts. Another great aspect of this year's counselling is that students have three days to make their choice about the college they prefer and two days to confirm their pick - something that didn't exist till last year, students had to immediately make a choice once their seat was confirmed. 

In the first phase, the student will fill in their applications and submit them, if they need any help, resource people will be available at the centre. In the second phase, the students will have to appear at the centre for certificate verification - this will mostly be scheduled for the first week of June. In the third phase, there will be five round and the students will be divided into groups for the same. The candidates will then be given three days to make a choice list of their institutions and branches (any number of choices)  and two extra days to confirm their final choice.

"This will give them time to think about all their options and weigh in all the pros and cons. They don't have to hurriedly choose an institution in a few minutes and question their decision later. They can make fully informed decisions,"  Uthariaraj explained. Depending on their preferences, students will also be allowed "upward mobility" if some of the students in ranks higher than theirs choose to leave the seat. The TNEA will also be shortly releasing a video for students and parents to guide them through the whole process and Anna University faculty will be present at the centres for any sort of help that the candidates might need. 

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