MU starts admission process; students worry about cut-offs

MUMBAI: The University of Mumbai (MU) on Thursday started the sale of admission forms, kicking off the admission process to undergraduate degree courses across its 800-odd affiliated colleges. With Class 12 results behind them, degree aspirants will now face the difficulty of ensuring admissions in a college and course of their choice.

This year, colleges fear an explosion of high scorers taking over the first three merit lists, leaving little room for the rest.

A principal of a south Mumbai college on condition of anonymity said, “With a high number of Class 12 students across boards scoring 90% and above this year, students with scores below 90% will find it tough to bag a seat in any of the top city colleges, especially in self-financed courses.”

The final result this year has brought forward an explosion of students joining the 90% bandwagon. While ICSE and CBSE schools boasted of nearly 50% or more of their Class 12 students scoring above 90-95% this year, Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education announced Class 12 results this week and the number of 90% scorers across the state jumped 12-fold compared to last year.

According to MU’s admissions schedule, pre-admission registrations will go on till August 14 and colleges will have to complete in-house and minority quota admissions by August 14 as well. The first open merit list is scheduled to be announced on August 17. “Since in-house quota students will be given first preference for traditional courses (BA, BCom, BSc), there’s a good chance that most colleges will not have a single seat left for outsiders for the general merit list,” said TA Shiware, speaking for the management of Wilson College. He is also the chairman of Mumbai Association of NonGovernment Colleges.

“The Maharashtra government had suggested that colleges be allowed to increase their intake capacity to accommodate more students. There is, however, nothing on paper as of yet. We are unsure if we are allowed to admit more students,” said Naresh Chandra, principal of Birla College, Kalyan.

“I fear a large number of seats will go vacant after every round of seat allotment, making admissions process chaotic,” said Marie Fernandes, principal of St Andrew’s College, Bandra.

University of Mumbai.