Soaring demand has made B. Com the most sought after undergraduate programme offered by colleges affiliated to the Mahatma Gandhi University in 2012-13.
Nearly half of the 62,000 applicants who have registered online for the university's Centralised Allotment Process (CAP) this year have opted for B. Com as their first choice. The total number of seats in 130 affiliated arts and science colleges for various Undergraduate programmes is about 30,000.
B.A. English is the second most preferred course among the aspirants. About 10,000 students have applied for the programme. The first allotment under CAP will be held on Thursday.
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Expect at least two per cent hike in cut-offs this academic year for B.Com, said Rajan Varughese, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, going by the increasing demand for the programme. He said that there is an increase of 7,000 applications for B. Com programme this year compared to 2011-12.
If the expectations come true, the cut-off percentage for B. Com in most preferred colleges is likely to go beyond the 95 per cent mark for seats under the general category. For English, the cut-off percentage in leading colleges in Ernakulam district was around 84 per cent last year in the general category.
Even though B. A. English is the second most preferred course this year, there is a fall in the number of applicants compared to 2011. Last year, 13, 151 students had applied for B. A. English under CAP while this time the number is 10,000.
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For B. Com (Model I), the highest rank index among candidates in city colleges was 96.8 per cent in the general category. It was 98.9 per cent in colleges across second towns in Ernakulam district. In English, the highest rank index in 2011-12 among city colleges was 95.4 per cent. In second towns of the district, the highest rank index was 96.3 per cent.
Referring to the increasing popularity for the B. Com course, T.S. Sojan, Head of the Department of Commerce at Sacred Heart College in Thevara, said that commerce graduates have a lot of job openings considering the opportunities emerging across the world. “They can also pursue various professional courses like CA, ICWA, MBA and LLB after completing the B.Com course,” he said. Prof. Sojan said that B.Com graduates are also preferred by the employers in Gulf countries.
Job prospects
Stating that improved job prospects remains a major reason for the demand for an Undergraduate programme in English, J. Vijayamohanan, Head of the English Department at Maharaja's College, said the aspirants hope that they could earn good openings after undertaking a programme in B.A. English focusing on stepping up their communicative skills. He added that many students also feel that they could take up teaching jobs in colleges by clearing the National Eligibility Test after their Postgraduation.
Dr. Varughese said that the marks for plus two will decide the weightage for the admissions to the degree programmes. In government colleges, 100 per cent seats will be filled through the CAP. In aided colleges, it will be 70 per cent and 50 per cent in the unaided colleges. The community merit quota and the management quota seats will be filled by the managements concerned according to the existing rules, he said.