Rush stuns MSU faculty

VADODARA, June 30: The first day of the admission procedure saw at least 5,000 forms being distributed from the Faculty of Commerce. Forms w...

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VADODARA, June 30: The first day of the admission procedure saw at least 5,000 forms being distributed from the Faculty of Commerce. Forms will be available for another week.

The popularity of the faculty, however, is more cause for concern than celebration, simply because it is not equipped to accommodate more students than it already has; the 12,000 students currently on the rolls stretch the resources to the utmost.

In all, the commerce faculty has 7,000 seats in the first year. But 4,000 of these are in the two girls’ colleges at Padra and Nizampura, which are not the first choice of many students.

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Moreover, distribution of forms for these colleges, too, is not restricted to girls.

Part of the reason for the high demand for commerce faculty seats is the high pass percentage in the HSC general stream. Fifty-four per cent of the Gujarat Board examinees cleared their exams this year, up five per cent from last year. Besides, another 720 Central Board students — the strength of the CBSE schools here — can be expected to apply as well.

Pointed out a senior professor of the faculty, “As it is, the commerce faculty has the largest number of students in the campus. The introduction of courses like Bachelor of Business Administration and PG Diploma in Management had nor deflected from the rush for the B.Com. course. "So, as in the other faculties, we too should have ways of restricting admissions. If the science faculty can say no after distributing a certain number of forms, so can we.”

In fact, he said, these measures should have been in place before the admission process began for the new academic session, in view of the high pass percentage

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.Faculty dean B S Patel, however, dismissed the suggestion, saying, “Neither can we restrict the distribution of forms, nor can we discourage eligible students from taking admissions.”

While admitting that handling the unprecedented rush this year would definitely be a problem, Patel, however, said it would not be possible to conduct a written test either, as a bachelor’s degree in commerce was not a professional course.