Even as the education sector is slowly crawling back into a routine and getting used to the new virtual classrooms, a host of courses are yet to welcome their first year batches. Admissions to professional undergraduate and post graduate courses once again got delayed with the state common entrance test (CET) cell extending pre-admission registration process by a week, and heads of colleges are now worried about completion of the set curriculum for their first year batches in the given time frame.
“There are two semesters to cover for the first year and going by the latest admissions schedule, first year classes will not commence till second or third week of January so in all probability, we will be in a position to finish the first semester only by April or May,” said Dr R K Srivastava, professor and HOD, Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE). He added that the regulating body will have to suggest a more concise curriculum in order to ensure that college manage to complete the set portion for the entire academic year within a set period.
Recently, the Bombay high court stayed the implementation of the Maharashtra government circular earlier this year which had declared that results of several entrance examinations including GMAT, XAT and ATMA tests would not be valid in order to be eligible for admissions to MBA or MMS courses in the state. It further stated that only Maharashtra state common entrance test (CET) will be considered instead. Due to this change, the CET cell on Monday released a circular stating extension of registrations for these PG courses.
Many institutes are also aware that while compression of the curriculum is one of the options, students will also have to prepare themselves for shorter breaks between semesters. “We have already come to the end of this year which leaves us with very little time in the next year to complete the entire year’s portion. Not only will the regulatory authority have to remodel the curriculum based on the academic time in hand, but we are also expecting smaller or no breaks between semesters at all for the first year batch,” said Dr Seema Saini, CEO, N L Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mira Road.
As per the latest notification by the state CET cell, B.Tech registrations will now go on till December 22, following which the admissions process will begin. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is yet to clarify its stand on the status of curriculum for first year batches of professional courses under its wing.
“Once there is some clarity, colleges will have to work extra hours to ensure that our students are not at a loss. All engineering batches, excluding first year batches, are already running smoothly so we will have to plan a separate academic calendar just for the new batch and we don’t mind it, provided there’s no further delay,” said Gopakumaran Thampi, principal, Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, Bandra.
