The demand for courses offered by the autonomous Ernakulam Maharaja’s College in the new academic year has soared despite the institution hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the recent times.
Official estimates showed that the college received 13,000 applications for nearly 600 seats under its various undergraduate programmes. “More than 65% of the undergraduate seats have already been filled. For the postgraduate programmes, we have received about 4,000 applications for nearly 300 seats,” said P.K. Raveendran, chairman of the college governing council here on Tuesday.
The demand for courses like B.Com has shot up considerably. Mr. Raveendran pointed out that the cut-off for the programme was about 95% in the first list of admission. “The college reached another milestone after the number of PhDs produced by the 13 research departments reached the 100 mark last month. The process of elevating three other departments into research centres is progressing,” he said.
The authorities had feared whether the negative image in the media, especially after the chair-burning case and related incidents, would impact the admissions this year. But the increase in demand has come as a relief for the governing council, which has fast-tracked various development projects.
Work on the new hostel complex is progressing, with the Public Works Department initiating the tender process. The government has already allotted ₹10 crore for the three-storeyed hostel tower. A three-storeyed library complex has received the green signal from the authorities. The government has sanctioned ₹12 crore for the project. Kitco will be executing the work. The agency will also implement the new academic block project for which the government had allocated ₹9 crore.
Mr. Raveendran said that Maharaja’s College would receive ₹37.5 crore out of the total ₹150 crore earmarked in the State budget as part of the government’s plan to elevate four government colleges in the State to Centres of Excellence. Finance Minister T. M. Thomas Isaac has also assured support for the development of the college utilising funds mobilised through the government’s re-constituted Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).
The results of the first batch of postgraduate students after the college turned autonomous were also declared on Tuesday. The overall pass per cent is 65.5. No moderation was given to the students, and the college had carried out a double valuation to ensure professionalism and transparency in the evaluation process.
