Struggling to attract students, BU depts go for 2nd admission round

Economics, Applied Genetics, Zoology, Lib & Info Sciences, Hindi hope to fill vacant seats .

 Several postgraduate departments in Bangalore University (BU) are going in for second round of admission to attract students after having failed to fill all the available seats in the recently held process. 

In some departments, as much as half the seats have remained unfilled and the university hopes to fill at least four or five more seats in the second round of admission. The departments of Economics, Applied Genetics, Zoology, Library and Information Sciences and Hindi among others have invited applications for the second time. 

The University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines seek to make higher education accessible and encourage universities to increase intake for courses. But not all departments have been able to attract minimum admissions. “If there are fewer admissions for three years in a row in a particular course, the UGC will immediately stop supporting the course and it will automatically be discontinued,” BU Vice Chancellor Prof B Thimme Gowda told Deccan Herald. 

Hindi department is among those which have not seen encouraging admissions. A professor in the department, requesting anonymity, presented the situation of the PG Hindi course thus: “There are 30 seats in the department but only 12 students have enrolled this year. The situation is better than last year. In 2013-14, some students dropped out after the counselling and eventually only eight admissions were made.” The department aims to fill one or two more seats in the second round.

 The department had an intake of 60 students in 1981, which was reduced to 30 over the years. In the past, there would be at least 25 admissions, but not more than 15 students have enrolled in the last five years. The reduced PG admissions reflect poor enrolment in language courses in general at the degree level, the professor added. 

Second round

This is but a one-off instance. There are several other departments that have advertised for the second round. 

According to official releases from the departments concerned, students can send their applications to the respective chairpersons. Those interested in applying for PG courses in Hindi, Zoology and Applied Genetics can send their applications before September 2. For PG courses in Psychological Counselling and Library and Information Science, applications have to be sent before Saturday. 

The Department of Economics will hold the second round of counselling at the Jnanabharathi campus on Wednesday to fill 38 vacant seats in various affiliated colleges. 

While the first round of PG admissions was held at a centralised level, the second round will be conducted by the departments concerned.

The vice chancellor specified that the schedule was left to the discretion of the departments but they would have to adhere to the university’s regulations pertaining to admissions and stick to the seat reservation formula. 

Seats remaining unfilled after this round will be considered vacant for this academic year.