JEE Main Online application forms from Nov 1

The newly introduced Joint Entrance Examination (Main) for admission to various engineering colleges across the country will be conducted in April 2013 for the first time. The examination will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) which released a detailed document on examination earlier this month. The application forms for the JEE (Main) 2013 will be available online from Thursday, November 01, 2012. There will be no sale of paper application forms.

The CBSE has set up facilitation centers across the country which will help candidates complete their online application forms. 43 centers have been announced and more are expected to be added over the next few weeks. The services at these centers will be available free of cost.

The document with the details of the examination which was released recently confirmed that the offline mode of the examination will be held on April 07, 2013 and the online mode will be conducted between April 8 and 25, 2013. The document further stated that the blind candidates will be given an extra hour to complete the exam along with the help of writers. The document also revealed that a candidate will be allowed three consecutive attempts for the JEE (Main) examination.

Learning English to top job interviews

Amid growing concerns over the lack of English communication skills of engineering students in Kerala, engineering colleges are working on improving their communication skills from the first semester itself.

"We intend to start orientation and soft skills development courses that will include effective communication in English and group discussion from the first semester. Special classes will be conducted on a regular basis till the final semester," said Cochin University of science and technology registrar Dr A Ramachandran.

At present, engineering colleges conduct orientation and skill development courses for a week during the final semester, just before the campus recruitment. But that is set to change. A recent survey conducted by an employability measurement company, Aspiring Minds, revealed that four out of 10 engineers were lacking in proper English communication skills.

"Improving the communicative skills of a student is not enough, as 90% of the words they will use later are technical in nature. We are now making an effort to familiarize students with the language of the industry, as it is the 'technician's language' that will help them succeed," said vice-chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University Rajan Gurukkal.

Explaining the problem, Bhuvna Anil Kumar, head of the department of IIT/JEE coaching from, Kochi said: "Basic English communication at the school-level is fine. The problem arises when children go to engineering colleges. During the campus recruitment training, we found that the general language of communication in campuses is Malayalam."

Tandem Network's A U Prasad said: "More engineering aspirants are taking the language test at our institute. Based on the results, we work on areas that they need to improve."

In a test conducted at P C Thomas's institute in Thrissur, it was found that while students of the state board could correctly pronounce only 100 English words in a minute, CBSE students managed to pronounce 300 words. "We have asked students to study five new English words a day. This will improve their vocabulary," said Thomas, director of the institute.

Can’t sit for JEE if you opt out of IIT

Students who leave an IIT course midway can be barred from taking the next year's entrance examination, the Delhi high court has said.

Justice Hima Kohli upheld the decision of IIT authorities to refuse admit card to one Prateek Rohilla, who withdrew his admission to Indian Institute of Technology Madras after paying the registration fee last year. Rohilla wanted to appear in the IIT-JEE-2012 scheduled for April 8.

HC agreed with the argument of IIT authorities that such attempts by candidates, who once qualify in IIT-JEE and later seek to withdraw the seat allocated to them, resulted in immense financial strain on the institute. "In this attempt, the institute would have to keep a seat vacant not just in the first year but right through the course that may extend up to five years as in the present case," the court said.

"Apart from this, the course is extremely prestigious and every seat is precious and cannot be permitted to be wasted in such a manner," it said, refusing to accept Rohilla's petition.

Rohilla moved the court against the IIT decision after it informed him that he cannot reappear for IIT-JEE 2012 exam as last year he withdrew his admission after paying the registration fee. In 2011, Rohilla after qualifying in the IIT-JEE under the scheduled castes category got admission in engineering design (automotive engineering), a five-year M-Tech dual degree course at IIT-Madras.

By making an online payment, Rohilla deposited Rs 20,000 towards non-refundable registration fees and confirmed the admission but did not turn up at IIT-Madras to attend classes. Later, he again applied for the 2012 IIT entrance test under the general category. On his application IIT-Delhi, organizing the test, informed him that his application stood cancelled as he was ineligible.