Odisha to join JEE Main 2015

The policy planning board on professional education in Odisha Friday recommended that the Odisha government join the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) 2015 for admission to premier technical institutes in the country.

Odisha will join the JEE (Main) for the second year along with Gujarat and Maharashtra to facilitate the students seeking admission in engineering courses in various institutions, including IITs and NITs in the country. The students can also get admission in the state institutes.

However, the students seeking admission into MBA, MCA, lateral entry and Pharmacy in the institutes of the state will have to appear in the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE).

"The students will participate in JEE Main, which is the existing system, to get admission to the technical institutions of the state and the country," said former high court judge Justice A.K. Parischa, who headed the policy planning board.

The board, however, left to the government the decision to hold separate OJEE for the students even after they participate in the JEE Main.

Meanwhile, the application process started Friday for the JEE (Main) to be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in April 2015.

The Odisha Private Engineering Colleges Association (OPECA) was demanding re-introduction of the OJEE for B.Tech. admission.

Despite a special state-level JEE examination conducted at the direction of the Odisha High Court last year, nearly 37,000 seats have remained vacant in the state's 101 private and 10 government colleges. Only 11,000 students are pursuing technical courses in the state.