Shimla: To encourage admission in private institutions in the state, the H.P. Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission has relaxed its eligibility and admission criteria for under graduate and post graduate programs in Engineering, Pharmacy and Management courses.

The commission has notified eligibility criteria for admission in B.Tech and B.Pharmacy and now students who has scored 45 percent in 12th for general category and 40 percent for reserved category can take admission in the institutions in the state. Earlier it was 55 percent for general category and 50 percent for reserved category.

For admission in M.Tech and M.Pharmacy now students with 55 percent in general category and 50 percent in reserved category can take admission in Private Universities and institutions.

In Master in Business Administration (MBA) now students with 50 percent in general category and 45 percent for reserved category is eligible for taking admission in private institutes in the state. Earlier the criteria was 60 percent for general and 55 for reserved category.

The state has 17 Private Universities and 13 private institutions offering engineering, pharmacy and management courses. These private institutions were facing low number of admission because of stringent admission and eligibility criteria and thus forcing students to migrate to the neighboring Punjab and Haryana states for their higher education.

With the losing revenue, the private educational institutes had time and again demanded relaxing eligibility and admission criteria and unsuccessfully requested the government to fix at least as per AICTE norms.