Bhubaneswar, May 22: The higher education department has decided to exclude the admission to undergradute courses of Rama Devi Women's University and Khallikote Cluster University from the e-admission process from this year.

These universities will conduct their own admissions for their junior and degree colleges henceforth.

The women's college, which will soon be the state's first women's university, will now hold its own admissions.

The Khallikote Cluster University will control its nearby colleges and have the power to conduct its own admissions. This was decided in the steering committee meeting of the department.

It was decided that all admission processes will be completed by July 15 and the total seat strength in junior colleges will be increased by one lakh, as announced by higher education minister Pradeep Panigrahi.

This year, the upload of applicants' photo will be made mandatory to apply for the common application form online.

This will be implemented for both junior and degree colleges and will help minimise chances of forgery or proxy cases.

Admission against the first selection list shall be carried out for five days to make it convenient for students coming from distant areas.

The department has also decided to include Telengana to the group of neighbouring states and has declared the qualification of students passing from the Telengana boards and councils equivalent to those of the council of higher secondary education.