The autonomous Ernakulam Maharaja’s College has retained its popularity as one of the most preferred institutions for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the new academic year.
Official figures showed that more than 95% of seats for postgraduate programmes were filled on the first day of allotment on June 3. Around 4,600 candidates had registered online for the 288 seats available for postgraduate courses offered by the only autonomous college in the government sector in the State.
Of them, 1,500 students turned up for admission. As many as 275 seats were filled on the first day of allotment. The cut-off (State merit) for M.Sc. course was in the range of 96% to 98%. For MA in humanities and languages, the cut off was between 92% and 96%.
Among undergraduate programmes, the most preferred B.Com. (Finance and Taxation) had the highest number of takers during the allotment held on Friday. “The 24 seats for the course were filled fast on the first day of allotment. More than 2,900 students had applied for the course,” said Sunish K.S., governing council member and faculty member of the zoology department.
More than 90% of seats for B.Sc. Chemistry were also filled on Friday.
P.K. Raveendran, chairman of the governing council of the college, attributed the rising demand to a series of steps being taken to step up academic and infrastructure facilities. “With the government deciding to give more financial and administrative powers to the principal, the projects will shift to top gear,” he said.
The decision to confer more powers on the principal was taken on the recommendations of a committee set up by the Kerala State Higher Education Council to study the problems in the functioning of autonomous colleges.
Prof. Joy Job Kulavelil, who headed the committee, said the government’s decision would be a big boost to the only government college in the autonomous sector, and that it would help in scaling up its performance. “It will also help in avoiding bureaucratic delays in getting clearances for projects,” he added.