Kolkata: The pre-counselling programme for e-admission in engineering and technical education organised by the Association of Professional Academic Institutions (APAI), Bengal will also be held in hybrid mode for the first time this year so that students from every nook and corner of the state as well as outside Bengal can access and get requisite information regarding various courses offered by the engineering and technical institutions in the state. 'APAI Pre-Counselling Fair 2022' will be held at Netaji Indoor Stadium from August 17 to 19.
"Students can physically visit the fair and directly interact with their choice of college representatives or enjoy interacting with the college representatives on all three days from elsewhere and also book free online counselling with the college of their choice. 10 minutes will be allotted to each student who wants to attend it in virtual mode," Satyam Roy Chowdhury, General Secretary APAI said.
Roy Chowdhury added that 35 per cent of students studying engineering are coming from outside Bengal, so the online mode of interaction will be of immense benefit for them. There are over 34,000 seats available in the engineering and technical colleges in the state. The counselling in connection with the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations will start from the third week of August and continue till September.
Sardar Taranjit Singh, President of APAI said: "There will be scholarship facilities for 50 students on each day of the fair through a lottery. Students getting the scholarship will be offered a discount of Rs 10000 in their course fees."
Roy Chowdhury said that several job-oriented courses have been launched by different institutions this year like Digital Marketing, Data Science, Blockchain Technology, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Python Programming etc. "APAI is planning to host a similar fair in neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar etc from next year, considering the students' interest in academic pursuits in Bengal," he added.
Saikat Maitra, Vice-Chancellor of MAKAUT (Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology) said: "West Bengal is known for its practice of maintaining higher education standards and providing wings to its students in every field with the best facilities possible. This initiative by APAI provides students a chance to opt for the best college of their selection for a bright future post completion of the course."
The exposition is supported by the state Higher Education department, Makaut and the state Joint Entrance Board.