Three compete for one seat as 1.24L apply for mgmt courses

MUMBAI: Three students will be competing for every seat in the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and Masters in Management Studies (MMS) courses across Maharashtra this year. The state common entrance test (CET) cell received 1.24 lakh applications, the highest ever, for the Maharashtra (MH-CET) entrance exams for MBA and MMS courses for the academic year 2020-21. However, the intake capacity across the state is 36,500.

“MBA has increasingly been attracting many students over the past few years and more and more institutes are coming forward with their management sections. From 34,000 seats in 2018-19, the intake capacity is 36,500 in 2020-21. Registrations have also increased by over 15% in the past two years,” said a senior official from state CET cell.

The official said registrations to MH-CET (MBA/MMS) stood at 1.11 lakh and 1.06 lakh in 2019 and 2018 respectively. While seats have increased in the past two years, until 2018, many institutes were left with vacant seats, forcing them to shut down divisions or institutes altogether. As per data provided by the state CET cell, from 38,190 seats in 2015-16, the intake capacity dropped to 34,000 in 2018-19. “The trend seems to have shifted in the past two years. Now, more students are showing interest in MBA,” said the CET official.

Over the years, seat vacancy in MBA institutes has reduced, partly because of reduction of seats and partly due to increased demand among applicants. As per data shared by the state CET cell, in 2019-20, seat vacancy in MBA/MMS courses stood at 13%.

Kavita Laghate, director of the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) said demand for MBA has increased in the past few years. “Even engineering graduates opt for MBA/MMS because there aren’t enough jobs in their field. Many feel that these courses can help them get better jobs in the future,” she said.