With the Tamil Nadu Government allowing arts and science colleges to increase seats by up to 20% in all branches of UG courses this year due to the rise in demand, many colleges in the city are gearing up to hike seats in courses like BCom, BBA and BCA, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
The higher education department has allowed the government colleges to increase their seats by 20%, while aided and self-financing colleges can hike it by 15% and 10% respectively.
However, the majority of the city colleges have plans to increase the seats only for the subjects which are in much demand.
College officials speak
College officials said this year demand for commerce and computer science-related courses has increased and accordingly they will hike seats in these subjects.
"The demand for undergraduate Basic Science courses like Math and Physics has declined a lot in the last two years. This year, we are struggling to fill even 70% of our seats in Basic Science courses, so there is no point in increasing seats in these subjects," said the principal of a self-financing college.
Madras Christian College (MCC) has plans to increase seats in BCom stream. "We have over 350 seats in BCom and almost all the seats are full. As there is a huge demand for BCom, we will increase seats in the subject," said Paul Wilson, Principal of the college. He further added that they have plans to hike seats in Bachelor in Computer Application (BCA)course also.
Women's Christian College (WCC) also has plans to hike seats in BCom and BCA. "We will check the capacity of our laboratory and accordingly decide how many more students we can accommodate in the BCA course. After examining the infrastructure, we will decide on the number of seats that will be increased in these courses," said Lilian Jasper, principal of WCC.
Admission processes
Though the state government has extended the last date for admission in undergraduate courses to June 30 to give time to the colleges to fill the increased seats, however, colleges are sceptical about completing the admission process in such a short span of time.
"If we increase seats at the last minute, there will be a lot of chaos among students, and we will also face problems in filling the seats. We have no plans to hike seats in any of the branches," said principal of a private college.
