TOI:Students will have to fill just a single online form to apply to several junior colleges:June 09

ONE-STOP ADMISSION SHOP

Students Will Have To Fill Just A Single Online Form To Apply To Several Junior Colleges …………..Anahita Mukherji | TNN

Mumbai: A year ago, Varun Seth, a student of NMIMS Universitys Mukesh Patel College of Technology, Management and Engineering, spent hours rushing from one queue to another to collect and submit junior college admission forms for his brother, a Class X student.

He would regularly complain to his friends, Urvish Kukreja and Sugato Banerjee, how crazy the process was. There should only be one admission form for junior college, an exasperated Seth said at the end of the process. And thats how the three of them decided on a project that would revolutionise admissions to junior college in Mumbai.

Banerjee, who is good at encoding, tried his hand at formulating a structure for online admissions. Over the past one year, alongside their studies at the Vile Parle college, the three MBA Tech students set out to develop their pet project.

We surveyed a thousand schoolchildren from across Mumbai to see if they were interested in online admissions, said Kukreja. Up to 75% said they would love an online admissions system through which payment could be made via a credit card. Of the remaining 25%, 15% said that they didnt own a credit card, but would opt for online admissions if they had one. We wanted to know how popular the scheme was before working on it, said Kukreja.

The boys juggled studies at college with work on online admissions. In January this year, Mithibai College principal Kiran Mangaokar put them in touch with Sheila Tiwari, deputy director of education, Mumbai. Tiwari, who had been considering an online system of admissions for around a year, immediately took up the project.

Tiwari roped in a number of experts in the field. The architect of the entire project was Jitendra Shah, a retired professor at VJTI, who, in turn, brought together a series of individuals and companies to work on the project. It soon turned into a publicprivate partnership.

Binyas IT, the Pune-based company that developed and maintained the software, is run by Shahs former students. Fujitso has provided one of the servers, while Netmonastery.com will provide the security services. Zipcash pitched in with funding as well as introducing the payment model, which involves mobile phones and the net.

After presenting the system to the government and getting the required permissions, we had only a month to pull through the entire project in time for admissions this year, said Tiwari, adding that the entire team worked overtime to see the scheme through.

NO MORE BLUES IN QUEUES: LOG ON TO ENTER JUNIOR COLLEGE

GETTING STARTED

* Log onto the state government website (URL to be announced in a few days) and register yourself using your name and seat number of the Class X exams (SSC/ICSE/CBSE or any other board). You will get a username and password

* Fill in your details on a formname, address, school, marks and so on. The questions on the form are a collection of all the questions asked on various admission forms of colleges across Mumbai. As of now, the system can verify marks entered by SSC students. If the ICSE, CBSE and other boards present their scores, the system will be able to verify those too

* The form includes a section in which a student can indicate if s/he is eligible for any quotaSC, ST, OBC, sports and so on. While a student may indicate quotas online, the eligibility will be verified by the college through documents submitted in person after admission is secured

CHOOSING YOUR COLLEGE

* After filling in the form, a list of names of all 316 junior colleges in Mumbai will appear. Click on any college to get its details. In addition to English, colleges can also provide information in Hindi, Marathi or Gujarati

* The website has an in-built search engine, so a student can search for a college based on its name, location, subjects offered, fees, cut-offs and so on. The popular names of colleges will also be used. So instead of typing in Kishenchand Chellaram or Narsee Monjee, a student can type KC or NM and get the info

* Once you click a colleges name, you will see the application form for that particular college. The form will already have your details filled in, thanks to the earlier form you filled. This means you can apply for multiple colleges without repeatedly having to fill in your details into every form

* Click on all the various colleges admission forms you want to purchase and then click the payment tab. You will see the list of colleges you have selected. You will be able to add or subtract names. Each application form will cost Rs 50 and an additional Rs 5 as service charge per form

MAKING THE PAYMENT

* Buy a ZIPCASH mobile scratch card worth a minimum of Rs 300. It is available either through home delivery, at retail outlets or in schools that buy the cards in bulk

* Use the scratch card to fill in the money on your mobile phone and send it to the number provided. You will receive a special PIN code through an SMS

* On the website, type in your mobile number and PIN after clicking the payment tab. You will receive an SMS asking you to confirm the payment. The SMS will also contain the list of colleges you selected as well as a four-digit authorisation number

* Type the four-digit authorisation number into the website to complete the payment. You will receive a confirmation of payment via an SMS as well as over the internet. The money will directly be credited to the college concerned

MERIT LIST & A VALUE-ADDED SERVICE

* The merit lists of all colleges will also be put up on the website

* For those who do not want to visit colleges or use the net to see if theyve made it to the merit list, ZIPCASH will offer a value-added service. At a cost of Re 1 per SMS per college, you can receive SMSes informing you of whether you have made it to the merit list of a particular college. If you have applied to five colleges, you will receive five SMSs, one from each college.

TROUBLESHOOTING

* If you cannot access the internet at home, you can still apply online. The state education department has asked high schools to keep computers ready on campuses

* If a student visits the website and finds that someone else has falsely logged on in his/her name, the student can immediately visit the nearest education office, where a new password will be given for that particular seat number

* If a student loses his login name and password, s/he can visit an education office and get a new one for Rs 50

IMPORTANT HSC DATES

ADMISSION SCHEDULE FOR DEGREE COURSES:

BA, BSc, BCom, BSc (Comp), BSc (IT), BMM and BMS

SALE OF FORMS: June 5 to 12

COLLECTION OF FILLED ADMISSION FORMS: June 9 to 14

First merit list: June 16 evening

Payment of fees: June 17 and 18

Second merit list: June 19 evening

Payment of fees: June 20 and 21

Third merit list: June 23 evening

Payment of fees: June 24

Final merit list: June 25 evening

Payment of fees: June 26