While admissions to various professional courses around the state are underway, the State Common Entrance Test Cell is eyeing a few changes for the coming years. The cell is proposing to weed out admission tests for certain courses that have garnered very little response over the years, and have very little intake to begin with.
One such course is the Master of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (MHMCT) programme. As it is seeing a very poor response, the Cell has proposed to eliminate its entrance test. “With low enrollment figures, such courses may not require the entire state machinery, and students can simply approach the colleges concerned with the CGPA [cumulative grade point average] from their undergraduation,” said an official from the CET Cell.
In the academic year 2024-25, as many as 179 students enrolled for the exam, and only 53 actually appeared for it. The course has a total intake of only 24 students, and only a total of eight students — three boys and five girls —enrolled for it in 2024-25. In academic year 2023-24, the course saw a total of nine admissions — five boys and four girls.
Additionally, the cell also proposed that students with a science background (Physics, Chemistry, Maths) be eligible for BBA/BCA/BHMCT courses, so that the students with lower percentages get a shot at another professional course, and these courses see fewer vacant seats. These plans are yet to be passed, pending approval from various government departments.
Data integration
In another plan to simplify academic processes for students, the CET Cell is also planning to integrate students’ registration data with the MahaDBT scholarship portal, ensuring that pupils will not have to sign up twice, and their scholarship disbursement will automatically renew year on year, once they manage to provide their attendance and mark sheets. Students from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Other Backward Classes (OBC), Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), women, and minorities all take advantage of this scheme at the moment.
