Traditional degree courses still find favour at suburban colleges

Top colleges in the city have filled most of their seats in self-financed courses, but some of the top colleges in the eastern suburbs could fill just 50-75% of these seats after the first round of admissions

While self-financed courses continue to attract proportionately a higher number of applications than traditional BA, BCom and BSc courses in the city colleges, suburban colleges witnessed an equal demand for traditional courses.

Top colleges in the city have filled most of their seats in self-financed courses, but some of the top colleges in the eastern suburbs could fill just 50-75% of these seats after the first round of admissions. However, these colleges had no trouble filling the seats in traditional courses, as majority of them were claimed by in-house candidates.

For example, at Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College in Ghatkopar, most of the seats in BA, BCom and BSc have been filled, but 20-30% seats in BCS, BioTech, BSc (IT), BMS and BBI are still up for grabs after the first round of admissions.

According to Usha Mukundan, principal of the college, many students don’t opt for a self-financed course, which is all the rage in the city - for economic reasons.

“We mostly cater to students from marginalised sections. The temperament of the students here is different. Many of them aspire to get into academics by studying pure sciences,” she said.

The situation is similar at Birla College in Kalyan. While the college has filled around 80% seats in BA and BCom, less than half seats in BBI, BMS and BSc (IT) were claimed - BAF was an exception with most of its seats filled - after first merit list was displayed.

The principal Naresh Chandra offers a different explanation for the trend. “The seats in traditional courses are filled earlier because a large number of our junior college students are admitted to these seats under the ‘in-house’ quota,” he said.

BSc remains another exception to this trend, with just 45% BSc seats in Birla College filled so far. The principals point out that most of the high-scoring science students who apply at degree colleges want to pursue professional courses such as engineering, medicine and pharmacy. They either don’t take claim the seat allotted to them or withdraw their admission once the admission process for professional courses begins.