The pandemic crisis has not dampened the growing demand for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes offered by Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam.
Instead, the rush for the courses seems to have spiked compared to last year. Around 14,400 aspirants had applied for a total of 694 seats for various undergraduate programmes as on Saturday. The online admission window, which was opened on July 15, will close by August 3. The corresponding figure at this stage of admission last year was around 13,500. Maharaja’s is the only autonomous college in the government sector in the State. The BA programme in English emerged as the most-preferred course, going by the number of applications. As many as 4,790 candidates applied for the course. The intake for BA English is 25.
The undergraduate programme in economics (BA Economics Model 1) came second, with 3,950 candidates applying for 50 seats.
B.Com (Finance and Taxation) continues to be among the sought-after programmes. As many as 3,410 candidates applied for the course.
“The steady demand for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes is a testimony to the continuing efforts to elevate the academic and infrastructural capabilities of the prestigious institution,” said P.K. Raveendran, chairman of the college governing council.
Among science programmes, B.Sc Chemistry had the highest number of applicants, with 3,210 candidates applying for 36 seats. The B.Sc Zoology programme was at the second position, with 2,970 aspirants applying for the course, followed by B.Sc Physics (2,780), B.Sc Botany (2,710), and B.Sc Mathematics (2,040).
Sunish K.S, member of the governing council and faculty member of the Zoology department, said 4,300 candidates had applied for 288 seats available for MA; M.Sc and M.Com programmes. “The numbers are likely to go up further, as the last date for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate programmes is August 3 and 5 respectively,” he added.
