1.1L APPLY FOR STATE MBA, MMS ENTRANCE TEST

MUMBAI: With 1.1 lakh students registering for the state’s common entrance test (CET) for Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Management Studies (MMS) courses this year, the number of takers for the entrance test has seen a marginal rise from last year.

The number of aspirants in 2018-19 was 1.06 lakh and the year before, 94,679 had registered for CET. Only 74,306 aspirants had applied for the test in 2016-17.

According to experts, the surge in the number of students taking the entrance test, which will be held on March 9 and 10, will likely result in fewer vacant seats in B-schools.

“It may happen that the vacancies in the colleges will reduce. We saw it happening the last year as well,” said Kalim Khan, director, Rizvi Institute of Management Studies and Research, Bandra.

The state has 329 institutes with a combined intake of 34,863 seats for post-graduation management courses. Last year, 29,344 students were admitted to these institutes, leaving 5,003, or 15%, of the seats vacant.

Khan said that the rise in the number of MBA aspirants in the last few years is a mere ‘correction’ of the dip that took place in the preceding years. “The number dipped in the last few years due to the changes in the admission process made by the directorate of technical education. It’s now at the same level as it was around 2009 and 2010,” he said.

Khan said the rise is minuscule. “The state has more potential in terms of the number of students graduating from colleges for MBA courses. The rise can be an indicator of numerous factors. Many take the state CET as a practice for the Common Aptitude Test (CAT),” he said.

The academician also said that the state loses many MBA aspirants due to a delay in the admission process.