Clock ticking for AP students: Seats in professional courses only for locals from 2025

Post June 2, they will not have access to seats in professional courses in Hyd as common admissions cease to be operational

Hyderabad: The clock is ticking for the students of Andhra Pradesh, who have a final opportunity to secure admissions in professional courses in Telangana for this academic year 2024-25.

Post June 2, 2024, the students will not have access to seats in professional courses in Hyderabad, as the common admissions between the two Telugu-speaking States cease to be operational and entire seats in professional courses are expected to be filled with Telangana locals. This will formally mark the end of the 10-year common admissions era between two the States.

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For this academic year, however, the State government will continue common admissions for both TS and AP students, as laid down in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 for only this year. The government took this decision since notifications, including the Telangana State Engineering, Agriculture and Pharmacy Common Entrance Test (TS EAPCET), Engineering Common Entrance Test (ECET) and Post Graduate Engineering Common Entrance Test (PGECET), have been issued before June 2, 2024.

The AP Reorganisation Act 2014, during the bifurcation of erstwhile AP, had mandated the continuation of the common admission process provided under Article 371 D of the Constitution for both successor States — Telangana and AP — for a period of 10 years starting June 2, 2014.

As per the common admission norm, 85 per cent of the seats in higher educational institutions in the State have been reserved for Osmania University area (Telangana) locals and the remaining, i.e., 15 per cent, is open for all. This means, students from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh can compete for a seat in the 15 per cent quota. The same norm is being followed by Andhra Pradesh for admissions into its higher educational institutions.

“A high-level meeting has been conducted by the Chief Minister during which the issue of common admissions between Telangana and AP has been discussed at length. It has been decided to continue this common admission process for only this year,” a senior official said.

Among the CETs, the TS EAPCET, formerly EAMCET, is most sought after by AP students, whose numbers increased in the last three years. A total of 51,848 students from AP registered for it in 2021. This number increased to 53,931 in 2022 and 56,374 in 2023.