Admn's decision makes PU see red

CHANDIGARH: The UT administration''s recent decision of conducting the BEd entrance test for admission for 500 seats at three city colleges has made Panjab University worried over its loss of revenue for next two years.
The administration has decided that this year it will not be a party to the entrance test conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, for admission into education colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh.The administration has planned to conduct their separate entrance test of city colleges, the counselling of which would also take place in Chandigarh.
As per the understanding between the three universities in the region, GNDU, Punjabi University, and PU, each university had decided to conduct the BEd entrance test for colleges in UT and Punjab for two consecutive sessions turn by turn. It was GNDU which got session 2003 and 2004 in its lap, while next in line was PU, which would have conducted the test in 2005 and 2006 in which more than 50,000 students appear for more than 2,500 seats in Punjab in addition to the UT seats.
But what the university officials are resenting is not only the loss in revenue on account of sale of application forms, which could be nearly Rs one crore, but also how would they manage the situation next year if they are left to conduct the test for only Punjab colleges and not city colleges.
PU V-C Prof K N Pathak says the university plans to write a letter to the administration seeking reasons under which the decision has been taken by the officials.A senior UT official says the change is done primarily keeping in mind the problems faced by city students last year during the counselling and the admission as the UT''s criteria for admission was not followed by the GNDU.
"Last year our students suffered a lot at GNDU admission counselling session so we have decided to have our separate entrance test this session. We have not really taken into account the revenue loss of the university but only the convenience of students," said a senior UT official.