After a steady rise over the last two years, the state witnessed a slight dip in the number of applications for undergraduate (UG) health science courses, including MBBS and BDS. Introduction of two new quotas and changes in the admission process may have contributed to the drop, said experts.
This year, 58,574 students registered for the centralised admission process (CAP) for 10 UG health science courses, compared to 59,757 aspirants last year. As many as 8.5% of the total number of students have applied under the socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC) category, while 4.2% belong to economically weaker sections (EWS). The document verification process for all candidates will begin on Saturday and continue till July 4. The state has a combined intake of around 23,000 seats for UG health science courses such as MBBS, BDS, Ayurveda, homoeopathy, unani, BSc nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
“The state government is to be blamed for low registrations as they kept changing the admission process without informing candidates in advance,” said Muzafar Khan, a Thane-based medical education counsellor. Instead of the Directorate of Medical Education Research (DMER), the state common entrance test (CET) cell is carrying out medical admissions this year. The CET cell had initially announced a single umbrella admission process for all professional courses, including health science courses, which was scrapped after technical glitches were reported. “The process has become much more complicated. DMER, which handled the admission process until last year, provided no help to the students. There was no information about the admission process available on its website causing inconvenience to students,” said Khan.
Sudha Shenoy, parent of a medical student, said that the 12% quota for the SEBC category and 10% for EWS also impacted admissions. “The college cut-offs are likely to shoot up as the scores are high and many students belonging to reserved categories are among the top rankers,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Sudha Shenoy, parent of a medical student, said that the 12% quota for the SEBC category and 10% for EWS also impacted admissions. “The college cut-offs are likely to shoot up as the scores are high and many students belonging to reserved categories are among the top rankers,” she said.
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