CET likely to exit, individual tests may enter

The MBA course, in great demand till the last year and catalysed the overnight mushrooming of MBA institutes, has virtually been dropped like a hot potato this year with many of the institutes left with a stockpile of vacant seats.

The University of Pune which along with Mumbai is one of the most sought after MBA institutes in the State. It has an staggering 70 vacant seats this year. A total 150 seats had fallen vacant in the university after the first entrance test and a second entrance test had to be conducted on September 2 to fill up the vacant seats.

The Management Insitute at Pravaranagar is topping the tally with 25 vacant seats followed by four other management institutes with about ten vacancies in each.

Last year nearly all of the 5,300 seats were filled up. But this year about half the seats remained vacant after the first entrance test.

Speaking to The Indian Express Dr. Sharad Joshi, head of the university’s department of commerce and management studies admitted that interest is dwindling among the students for the course.

The situation is particularly bad with Shivaji University and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University where a number of institutes have found not a single taker for the course, he said.

"As a result of this poor response, the universities and the institutes are pressing for obliteration of the CET so that they can conduct tests which are easier and subsequently more students can be inducted," said Joshi.

Joshi remarked,“If such a thing is done then the entire superstructure will collapse and management courses will be back to square one.”

He said MBA graduates were no longer being offered lucrative jobs and students were moving towards the computer courses.

The imbalanced demand supply ratio also appears to have harmed the course. A few years ago, the degree was the benchmark for lucrative jobs, today it had become the minimum qualification for selecting the right candidate, said Joshi.

The employers were cashing in on the excess supply and offering low salaries, he added.