KOCHI: In a setback to Cochin University of Science and Technology’s (Cusat) efforts to maintain the characteristics of a multicultural campus, there has been a considerable fall in the number of candidates from North India, especially Bihar.
Cusat had been a favourite destination for students from Bihar for pursuing BTech courses. Every year, hundreds of students from North India get admitted through the common admission test (CAT) conducted by the varsity.
Though there has been a sharp increase in the total number of applications for undergraduate and postgraduate courses with the varsity so far receiving 32,715 applications this year (as of March 3) compared to the 29,239 it received in 2017-18, the number of applicants from North India has come down from 3,988 in 2017-18 to 2,248 in 2018-19.
According to varsity authorities, curriculum standard, brand recall, good placement record, novel courses such as interdisciplinary master’s and the status of being the best varsity in the state with NAAC ‘A’ grade accreditation are reasons for the spike in the number of applications.
“Cusat used to be the next option for North Indian students who could not crack IIT/NIT entrance exams. Cusat’s academic performance at par with any other leading institution always attracted students. But this year, we are witnessing a steep fall in the number of applications from North India,” varsity authorities said.
The last date for submitting applications is March 8. Cusat has six CAT centres in North India — Patna, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kota, Lucknow and New Delhi. The number of applications at the Patna centre has come down from 2,570 (2017-18) to 1,446 (2018-19).
The corresponding figures at the other centres are Varanasi (224 to 91), Allahabad (41 to 23), Kota (616 to 319), Lucknow (124 to 73) and New Delhi (413 to 296).
