Admissions now, exodus later: college principals worry

For many, this admission is just a stop-gap arrangement As soon as the HSC results are declared a multitude of students make a beeline for Science colleges.

Admissions taken they wait for the lists of Engineering and Medical colleges to be declared. And then there is an exodus—all those who get admissions to Engineer-and Medicine courses opt out of the BSc courses.

As admissions to Science colleges in the city drew to a close in major colleges on Tuesday, the "exodus" problem was highlighted by principals and teachers. Every college, adhering to the University guidelines, offered admission to a large number of students.

Every year we have to face the exodus of students, who take this admission only as a sense of security and leave once other admission procedures come to an end," said the principal of a college. "The worst is that at the end of the first semester, we let in students who were rejected the first time. Others from low-rung colleges have to be given extra classes so that they can catch up with the rest," he added.

The admission process to the Engineering and Medical courses is completed by late September, keeping students on tenterhooks. "I have 78 per cent. Only if I get admission to a good college in the course that I want will I take the admission. Otherwise I might want to continue BSc and try for LIT or PMT I do not feel guilty that l am wasting a seat. It’s a jungle out there and I cannot take chances," says Shailesh Mahurkar, a student.

"Then there are Gujarati students who get admission by paying capitation fee in other States and leave the seats here. We have to keep them all in mind. Last year in our college, out of about 450 students who took admission, only remained. This year we have already given admission to 539 students, considering them temporary," says Father Francis Parmar, principal of Xavier’s College.

In a similar situation is Dr C G Dave, principal of MG Science College. "We too have a chunk of students leaving every year. We give admission to about 900 students and expect only a few to remain. This is a problem we face every year and nobody seems to be interested in a solution the complains.

Meanwhile, barring a few colleges, almost every college has admitted its full of students. In all, 963 students were admitted to Xavier’s College and around 900 to M G College.

"We had to reduce our cut-off percentage a bit to accommodate the students who will tay.

We have been able to get a fair share of students," says J .D Acharya, principal of CU Shah College. "We are expecting a rush from Wednesday and hope to get more students. Outside students who do not get admission elsewhere take it here," says M J Oza principal Gujarat College.

With the University asking the colleges to take in a buffer lot of students and the inevitable delay of admissions to the sought after Engineering and Medicine courses, it appears as if most students take admission in BSc only to have some sort of security behind them.

Republished from Asian Age