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MANIPAL: Manipal University will introduce 12 new courses in the forthcoming academic year. At present the varsity is offering 320 courses in 18 streams.

GK Prabhu, registrar of Manipal University, said here on Monday that the university would conduct online entrance tests (OET) for all its courses, including MBBS, BTech and BPharm from April 15 to May 15, 2013. The number of test centres has been increased from 30 to 50 this year, he added.

"There is no clarity in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical courses introduced by the Union government. As a result several deemed universities have moved court. We have also moved court against NEET and if the Supreme Court directs us to admit students through NEET, we will do that. However, we will conduct the online entrance tests as per the schedule," he added.

This year, the university has added a new feature to the entrance test. The candidates will be allowed to take a second test, if they are not satisfied with their performance in the first attempt. "The better score will be considered for the merit list," he said.

He also said that even though there is a need for more nurses in the country, there is a decline in the demand for nursing courses. To encourage more students to take up the course, the university has introduced scholarships for nursing students.

"Candidates who have scored above 80% in their 12th standard exam and whose parents’ family income is below 12.5 lakh are eligible for the scholarship," he added.

The university has also increased the funds set aside for scholarships from Rs 18.13 crore to Rs 25.01 crore. "There is also a 10 percentage tuition fee waiver in all course for Konkani speaking students," he said.

A few seats in all the courses are reserved for schools and colleges of Academy of General Education. Some of the scholarships offered are Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) scholarship for qualified students, All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) scholarship, merit-cum-means scholarship.