New Delhi, Oct. 12: A proposal for joint counselling with IITs for admission to the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) has hit a roadblock.

IIT Madras, which will organise the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced in 2017, and a few other IITs have drawn attention to "difficulties" in conducting joint counselling with the seven IISERs, a plan that was cleared by the human resource development ministry in June.

IIT Madras has said joint counselling may not be feasible as the IISERs admit students for their BS-MS Dual Degree Programme through three exams - the JEE Advanced, the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana, a test conducted by the department of science and technology, and the IISER Aptitude Test.

"The IISERs take in students through multiple examinations. It is not clear how to hold common counselling," IIT Madras director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said.

IIT Delhi director Ramgopal Rao echoed Ramamurthi. "The IITs are not in favour (of joint counselling). I do not think it is happening," Rao said.

During counselling, students are allowed to choose an institution and a course at a common forum without having to make visits for admission. The IITs and the National Institutes of Technology hold common counselling for admission to BTech courses.

Now, the IISERs hold their own counselling a week after the common counselling by IITs and NITs. There are instances of students interested in taking admission to IISERs blocking seats in IITs and NITs as there is no surety of making it to the science schools.

Once these students get admitted to the IISERs, they quit the IITs, leaving no scope for the tech schools to fill up the seats. As a result, several seats remain vacant in the NITs and the IITs.

The IISERs are keen on conducting common counselling to ensure that their academic session starts by August 1. Because of several rounds of counselling by IITs and NITs, their admission process takes time, pushing back the academic schedule of the IISERs.

The IISERs have 1,200 seats. While about 10 per cent seats are filled through the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana, 35 to 40 per cent students are picked from the JEE-Advanced merit list and the remaining 50 per cent are selected through the IISER Aptitude Test.

"The students face a lot of difficulty. They have to travel to an IISER for the counselling after the IIT session. Common counselling will help the students," said IISER Bhopal director Vinod Kumar Singh.

Singh ruled out any technical difficulty in common counselling. "It will be held for 35 to 40 per cent of IISER seats. The remaining will be filled up separately," he said.

IIT Guwahati director Gautam Biswas, however, said the proposal for common counselling should be welcomed. "I think it will benefit students. They will not have to travel much to seek admission."