KOCHI: Getting a seat in a reputed college (both aided and autonomous) for undergraduate courses, especially in the science stream, used to be a tough task in the past. However, colleges are now finding it difficult to fill the seats for traditional courses even after the third allotment. As a result, several institutions have turned to advertisements to fill the vacant seats.
While spot admissions were common in professional colleges, it has now become a norm in aided, unaided and even autonomous colleges. “Traditional courses are losing their sheen,” said Dr M Usman, general secretary of Kerala Private College Managements’ Association.
According to Alphonsa Vijaya, principal, St Teresa’s College, it is evident from the admission pattern in the college. “While new innovative courses, albeit being in the self-financing section, have seen seats getting filled, the traditional courses have only a few takers,” she said.
“Nearly, 60 per cent of the colleges under the MG University are facing the issue while a clear picture of the crisis in Calicut University will be available only after the third allotment process is over,” said Dr Usman, adding that earlier, all the seats used to get filled after the first and second allotments.
While the issue is not so bad in premier colleges, they too have reported a slump in admissions, he pointed out.
A professor at Sacred Heart College said, “We have received less number of applications this year compared to the previous years. However, maybe because we are an autonomous institution, and maintain academic excellence besides being located in a city, we could fill the seats,” he said. Meanwhile, the situation in SB College, Changanassery, is grave. “Seventy-five per cent of students who apply for UG courses are girls while boys constitute only 25 per cent. So, in our college where the UG courses are offered to only boys, filling the seats has become a huge task,” said Professor Joseph Job of the botany department.
He said the trend is visible right from the Plus-One level. “If we take a look at the number of vacant seats in the science stream in Plus One class, we can easily gauge what is going to happen in the coming years,” he said.
Professor V S Joy, principal, of Ernakulam Maharaja’s College said, “There has been an increase in demand for courses like political science, psychology and philosophy in our college. We feel that the new four-year UG course under the NEP would bring some change,” he said.
Alphonsa Vijaya pointed out that the colleges in the state have a lot of restrictions when it comes to creating new courses. “The colleges in Karnataka and other states can formulate new courses as per the changing times. But that is not the case in Kerala,” she said.