The Andhra Pradesh government has ended the 15 per cent quota for non-local students in higher education institutions.
This marks the end of a 10-year-old rule that allowed students from Telangana and other states to apply for a share of seats in AP colleges.
The announcement was made through a government order signed by higher education secretary Kona Sasidhar. From now on, all seats in undergraduate, postgraduate, and technical courses will be reserved for students from Andhra Pradesh.
The earlier system was introduced under Section 95 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. It allowed a student intake ratio of 85:15 between local and non-local candidates for 10 years, starting June 2014. With that period now over, the state has revised its policy.
The decision came after a report from the AP State Council of Higher Education. It said the state must protect the interests of its own students. The council recommended changes in admission rules across professional and general colleges.
Also read: Andhra exempts property tax for all defence personnel
Under the new policy, admissions will be based on two zones — Andhra University (AU) and Sri Venkateshwara University (SVU).
Students from eight districts will be considered local to AU. These are Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, and Prakasam.
For SVU, the five districts are Anantapur, Kurnool, Chittoor, Kadapa, and Nellore. Students must have studied or lived in these areas for four years to be considered local.
Each zone will now reserve 85 per cent of seats for its own students. The remaining 15 per cent will be open to students from the other zone. For example, SVU students can apply for 15 per cent of AU seats, and vice versa.
Previously, Osmania University (OU) in Telangana was also part of the admission system. That is no longer the case. OU has been removed from Andhra Pradesh's jurisdiction.
Some universities will continue to admit students from both AU and SVU regions. These include Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam, Dravidian University, Dr Abdul Haq Urdu University, Dr YSR Architecture and Fine Arts University, Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, and Silver Jubilee Government College.
In these institutions, 85 per cent of seats will be shared between AU and SVU students in a 65.62:34.38 ratio. The rest will remain open to all students from within Andhra Pradesh.
This move follows a similar step by Telangana, which scrapped its non-local quota in February. Both states have now closed access to out-of-state students, focusing fully on their own candidates.
Follow us
