MUMBAI: Close to 2.8 lakh candidates lined up for admission to degree colleges this year. Till date, over 8.6 lakh
applications have been filed, with some admissions to PG and professional colleges still pending. Last year, the university saw nearly 12.1 lakh applications at the final closing. Like the past few years, BCom has seen the largest count of applications—2.5 lakh. Last year, it was 3.5 lakh.
BMS has seen a slight rise in number with 1.5 lakh candidates apply-ing for the
undergraduate management course compared to 1.7 lakh last year. “One may see this year’s numbers change as some admissions are likely to happen. This may not be the final count as we’ve provided data till 5pm on Monday,” said deputy registrar Leeladhar Bansod. Officials said MU may extend the last date.
Colleges across the city, however, say demand for BCom with a specialization in accounting and finance tops everything. In fact, if one compared total applications to seats available, BCom (accounting and finance) would emerge as the number one choice.
“In a city like Mumbai, a graduate of this course gets a job easily. Also, the subject is very scoring,” said former
commerce dean Madhu Nair. Principals attribute the demand for this course to its curriculum design, which provides a lot of practical elements.
In the order of preference, vanilla BSc came next. And BSc with Information Technology followed with 93,406 applications. “While biotechnology is picking up, BSc (IT)’s demand has not fallen since the course started. A lot of those who don’t want to pay very high fees for engineering or join a little known college turn to BSc (IT) and most colleges run this course to full capacity,” said former pro-vice chancellor and principal of Birla College Naresh Chandra.
Principals reckon that placements are also what attract students to this course. “Several IT firms that recruit in large numbers pick BSc (IT) graduates and those who are good learn quickly on the job and rise up to the level of other engineers,” he added.
Mumbai University campus