Thousands of MBA, MCA seats to go unfilled this year too

More admissions than last year, but gulf still too wide to bridge

Admissions to MBA and MCA courses under government quota have been far better this year than last, but still not good enough to prevent thousands of seats from going unfilled.

Barring some well-known private colleges, most institutions are struggling to attract students. The problem has been compounded by reputable colleges’ move to increase their intake. This means students have preferred to enrol in them rather than go to lesser-known colleges. Still, the situation has improved over last year, said K Janardhanam, director at Bangalore University’s Canara Bank School of Management.

CNK Reddy College of Business Management, Bengaluru, is one of the many colleges struggling to get admissions. It is yet to fill its intake of 25. “Out of the 25 government seats, only four have been filled so far. In the management quota, we have filled 17 out of the 25 seats,” B G Satish, head of the institution, said. “I think the government is not doing enough promotional activities. It should, given the confusion of previous years.”

Private colleges have been able to attract students mostly from outside the State. For example, the Karnataka Private Post Graduate Colleges’ Association (KPPGCA), an association of MBA colleges, organised promotional drives in other states and received good response to its Karnataka Management Aptitude Test (KMAT).

The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) conducted the Postgraduate Common Entrance Test (PGCET) for MBA and MCA courses under government quota after almost three years, giving hopes that the poor response of previous years could be reversed. The situation improved but the gap was too wide to be bridged.

Last year, the test was conducted  by a consortium led by the Rani Channamma University, Belagavi, but the response was poor. Previously, the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) conducted the test and the response was lukewarm. In 2013, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) conducted the Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) that was used as gateway to admissions in postgraduate management and  computer science courses across Karnataka. But it created a lot of confusion among students.

Dwindling demand

Admissions this year

Total MBA seats under govt quota: 11,800; admissions so far: 7,600
Total MCA seats: 4,400; admissions so far: 1,700
PGCET registrations: 17,906

Admissions last year

Total MBA seats under govt quota: 13,753; total admissions: 5,878
MCA seats: around 4,000; admissions: around 1,000
PGCET registrations: 12,368