In an attempt to fill vacant seats at many of its affiliated colleges, the APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University announced that it would hold the Uttar Pradesh State Entrance Exam (UPSEE) for admissions to engineering and management courses in cities outside the state as well.
The body which has been grappling with a severe student shortage would organize the entrance exam in nine cities, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Ranchi, Patna, Dehradun, Bhopal and Kolkata, with Delhi having two centres.
UPSEE coordinator Kailash Narayan said, "The decision to have centres outside Uttar Pradesh (UP) will benefit students who had to earlier come to the state to take the exam.''
Earlier, 10% seats in AKTU colleges were reserved for the students from other states, who were admitted on the basis of their performance in the Joint Engineering Exam (JEE) (Mains).
Of the 1,87,614 applications received by AKTU, around 10,000 applications were from students living outside UP.
In the past, it has been seen that students from states like Bihar and Jharkhand get into AKTU colleges via direct admission. Officials believe that electing such students through UPSEE will encourage healthy competition, say officials.
Source: Rahul Pandey, City Journalist - Lucknow, CollegeDekho