Students with less than 45% can apply for PG courses in Mumbai varsity

Relaxing the eligibility rules for admission to postgraduate (PG) courses, the University of Mumbai (MU) announced that from next year any graduate can apply for PG courses conducted by varsity departments and its affiliated colleges.

Relaxing the eligibility rules for admission to postgraduate (PG) courses, the University of Mumbai (MU) announced that from next year any graduate can apply for PG courses conducted by varsity departments and its affiliated colleges. This means that, unlike earlier, even students who have scored less than 45% in their graduation will be eligible to apply for such courses.

Similar rules have been introduced for degree courses, with the university announcing that any student who has passed the Class 12 exam can apply for undergraduate self-financing courses. The new decision will be implemented from the next academic year 2017-18. The decision, which was announced on Wednesday, has been approved by the varsity academic council on August 31.

Earlier, students who have passed Class 12 exams with an aggregate 45% marks could apply for self-financing undergraduate courses such as Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS), Bachelor of Accounts and Finance (BAF), while at least 45% marks in graduation were required to apply for post graduate courses such as MSc, MMS, LLM, etc. For backward class students, the eligibility criteria was 40%.

Sanjay Deshmukh, vice-chancellor, MU, said, “It is a progressive and inclusive decision. The management council and academic council resolved to remove 45% as eligibility criteria for these courses. With this, anyone with a basic passing percentage can dream of pursuing higher education.”

While the eligibility criteria for traditional courses were already relaxed, students aspiring to self-financing courses will benefit from the decision.

Madhu Nair, dean, faculty of commerce, MU, said, “The eligibility criteria for traditional courses such as BA, BCom and MA, MCom is already relaxed and it has resulted in more students applying for these courses. Moreover, with the new decision, self-financing courses will become approachable for students who cannot apply as they would fall short of 45% by two or three per cent. Also, it will help to fill up vacant seats at many colleges.”