Bhubaneswar, Feb. 26: Students planning to take admissions into diploma engineering courses will no longer be required to appear for the diploma entrance test in the state.

"The admissions for diploma engineering courses will now be based on marks secured in the High School Certificate (HSC) examinations. A student with 35 per cent marks in the HSC examinations can apply for a diploma seat," said technical education minister Sanjay Das Burma.

The move is expected to improve the diploma admissions by bringing in more number of students to the colleges.

The decision will be implemented from the current academic year, said a department notification.

The notification says that according to the guidelines of the All India Council of Technical Education, a student securing 35 per cent marks in the HSC examinations is eligible to take admission into diploma engineering courses.

Private diploma engineering schools across the state had been demanding scrapping of the diploma entrance test for the past four years. Their authorities alleged that though the council's revised rules of 2011 stated that candidates with 35 per cent in the High School Certificate examinations could take up a diploma engineering course without qualifying any entrance test, the state continued to force them to appear for it.

Such a practice, they rued, was being followed to collect entrance fees, which amounted to around Rs 4 crore a year.

The colleges under the Odisha Private Engineering Schools' Association had been demanding admissions according to norms of the All India Council of Technical Education by drawing a merit list.

"It is a good decision by the state government and will benefit not only the students, but also the technical colleges," said association secretary Saroj Sahoo.