Several academic courses are yet to see their first-year batches even as some parts of the education sector are coming back to a sense of normalcy in Maharashtra. With the State Common Entrance Test (CET) cell extending the pre-admission registration process by a week, admissions to professional undergraduate and postgraduate courses have been delayed yet again. Keeping this in mind, colleges are believed to be sceptical about the timely completion of the curriculum for the first year batches.
Dr R K Srivastava who is a professor and HOD at Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE), said that the education board will need to provide a smaller or curtailed curriculum to allow students and the staff to complete the curriculum on time.
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“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,” he said.
Separately, institutes are also cognizant of the fact that students will need to brace themselves for shorter break days or weeks between semesters. Dr Seema Saini, CEO, N L Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mira Road, said - “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.”
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The Bombay High Court had recently stayed the implementation of the circular issued by the state government early this year declaring the results of a wide-range of entrance examinations including ATMA, GMAT, and XAT among others. The HC held that these results will not be valid to be eligible for admissions to courses like MBA or MMS within Maharashtra.
The court went on to say that the State Common Entrance Test will be considered instead. With this backdrop, the CET cell released a circular earlier this week detailing the extension of registration deadlines for post-graduate or PG courses. As per this circular, B.Tech registrations will continue until December 22 after which the admissions process will officially start.
Meanwhile, the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) is yet to offer clarity on the status of its curriculum for first-year batches of professional courses.
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