Application for management education less than half of last year

Updated on: Friday, June 14, 2013

Management education appears to be falling out of favour with students in the state. Data with the state technical board shows that only 20,757 students have applied for MBA/MSS courses in the state this year, less than half of last year's 42, 490 applicants. Last year only 32,825 of those who had applied actually took admissions and this year it's going to be worse with more than half of the state's 46,000 MBA/ MMS seats likely to go vacant.

This is the first year of admissions based on scores in the Common Management Admission Test (CMAT). A directorate of technical education official said applicants this year also include those who have taken other management entrance tests, such as the JMET, XAT, MAT, ATMA and CAT for IIMs. But despite that the number of applications have not risen this year.

While some say increased demand for marketoriented postgraduate diploma courses could be the reason behind the lack of interest among students, experts blame the tepid industry response during campus placements.

"The investment in these courses, in terms of fees, is higher, whereas, the placement offers are not promising," said SS Mantha, the chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education. He pointed out that the numbers of students who had taken CMAT were higher in Maharashtra in the third edition held in May. 'Tailor-made' PG diploma courses to blame, say officials

The sharp fall in the number of applications for MBA/ MSS courses in the state has management institutes rattled. Dayanand Meshram, joint director of the directorate of technical education, said students might be pursuing the tailor-made PGDM courses that are more industry oriented. "Their syllabus is updated from time to time and admissions are conducted at institute level." Last year, about 12,000 students enrolled for PGDM courses in the state.

AICTE chairman S S Mantha also cited a general country-wide trend of engineering students preferring masters in core engineering groups to MBA as another reason for the low number of applicants. However, he pointed out that other regions in the country have not seen such a drastic drop in student response.

The low figures have shocked institutes. "There is a possibility that the notification of admission has not reached all students in the state. The numbers are very low. There have to be more MBA aspirants in the state than what the figures depict," said Apoorva Palkar, president, Consortium of Management Education. "Corporates do require MBAs. But the vacant seats every year are sending a wrong signal to students, dissuading them from pursuing the course."

Application for management education less than half of last year

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