Bengaluru: NRI students aspiring to join medical courses in Karnataka this year may have to return home empty-handed as the state government is yet to frame rules for conducting special entrance tests for them.
The Medical Council of India (MCI) had in January this year directed all states and deemed universities to conduct separate entrance tests for NRI students for admission to MBBS and MD.
While COMED-K and the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) have announced the dates for entrance tests for professional courses, the state government is yet to frame rules that will govern the admissions process for NRI students. Neither COMED-K nor KEA, which conducts the CET, allots seats for NRI students.
What is shocking is that the state's medical education minister Sharan Prakash Patil seems unaware of the MCI directive. "I am not aware of this direction given by the Medical Council of India. I will check and initiate action," the minister told TOI on Wednesday in response to a query on the issue.
This has left deemed universities and private medical colleges in confusion.
Private colleges reserve around 15% of medical seats for NRIs, which are transferred to the management quota if they are not filled. Around 500 MBBS seats are available for NRI students in colleges across the state.
Pointing out challenges in conducting special entrance tests, Manipal University (MU) registrar GK Prabhu said, "The main issue is how do we set the test for foreign students. Is it online or offline because they cannot personally come down to write entrance tests?"
MU plans to petitition the MCI about these challenges, Prabhu said. MU receives around 350 applications from NRIs every year and admits 75 of them to MBBS.
Till now, deemed universities have been admitting NRI students to MBBS based on the marks obtained in their class 12 or other qualifying exams. Dr Basavana Gowdappa H, principal of JSS Medical College, Mysuru, said, "We are stranded and there is no clarity in MCI's directive. When deemed universities and private colleges have been providing MBBS seats to NRI students on merit basis all along, why do we need an entrance test for them now?"
JSS University is writing to both MCI and the state government seeking clarity on the process for admitting NRI students to MBBS.
There are 15 deemed universities and 46 medical colleges in the state.
The Medical Council of India (MCI) had in January this year directed all states and deemed universities to conduct separate entrance tests for NRI students for admission to MBBS and MD.
While COMED-K and the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) have announced the dates for entrance tests for professional courses, the state government is yet to frame rules that will govern the admissions process for NRI students. Neither COMED-K nor KEA, which conducts the CET, allots seats for NRI students.
What is shocking is that the state's medical education minister Sharan Prakash Patil seems unaware of the MCI directive. "I am not aware of this direction given by the Medical Council of India. I will check and initiate action," the minister told TOI on Wednesday in response to a query on the issue.
This has left deemed universities and private medical colleges in confusion.
Private colleges reserve around 15% of medical seats for NRIs, which are transferred to the management quota if they are not filled. Around 500 MBBS seats are available for NRI students in colleges across the state.
Pointing out challenges in conducting special entrance tests, Manipal University (MU) registrar GK Prabhu said, "The main issue is how do we set the test for foreign students. Is it online or offline because they cannot personally come down to write entrance tests?"
MU plans to petitition the MCI about these challenges, Prabhu said. MU receives around 350 applications from NRIs every year and admits 75 of them to MBBS.
Till now, deemed universities have been admitting NRI students to MBBS based on the marks obtained in their class 12 or other qualifying exams. Dr Basavana Gowdappa H, principal of JSS Medical College, Mysuru, said, "We are stranded and there is no clarity in MCI's directive. When deemed universities and private colleges have been providing MBBS seats to NRI students on merit basis all along, why do we need an entrance test for them now?"
JSS University is writing to both MCI and the state government seeking clarity on the process for admitting NRI students to MBBS.
There are 15 deemed universities and 46 medical colleges in the state.
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