Private colleges start admission process using their own metrics

How to go ahead with admission to firstyear degree courses in the absence of traditional Std XII board grades As the public universities and colleges still figure this out as they await clarity from the state government private institutes have already come up with a solution While one institute has started provisional admissions based on combined results of Std X and Std XI another university will take in candidates based on its entrance testWill the measures being adopted by the private educational institutions set the tone for a new trend of admissions to first year degree courses Educationists midday spoke to said the 800 colleges affiliated to the Mumbai University MU has no option but to wait and see how things unfoldldquoPrivate universities have the liberty to take such a step Their target audience is minimal when compared to public universities due to obvious reasons of affordability This makes it more important for public universities like MU to declare their plan of action for admission to first year degree coursesrdquo said the principal of a MUaffiliated college from the Eastern suburbsDr Ashok Wadia principal of Jai Hind College said ldquoAs an autonomous college we can have our own admissions process But the MU has to decide the eligibility criteria especially now in the absence of uniformity in Std XII scores Until now admission to all our courses were based on Std XII marksrdquoTalks underwayA senior official from the MUrsquos administration said ldquoThere is a continuous dialogue with the government to smoothen the process of degree admissions in the absence of uniformity in Std XII marksrdquo The official also shared the pressing demand of different universities to hold a Common Entrance Test CET ldquoWhatever the process may be it will clearly be a push towards a new normal for admissions in alignment with new education policy and global trendsrdquo the official addedDr Niranjan Hiranandani provost HSNC UniversityWhile the MU official believes new rules will be an adaptation to the changing policies private institutions have not only thought about new ways but have also implemented themAt S K Somaiya College the process of provisional admissions has already begun CA Monica Lodha director S K Somaiya College at Somaiya Vidyavihar University said ldquoWe believe that marks of one exam cannot define a studentrsquos talent The current situation has rather provided a room for us all to explore other viable options We have begun the process based on candidatesrsquo marks in Std X and Std XI combinedrdquo In just the first phase of the admission process the college has received about 12000 applications for 15 undergraduate coursesProcedure must startDr Shubha Pandit principal K J Somaiya College of Engineering elaborated that they could start the admission procedure because of the ldquostatus of private universityrdquo But the time has come to break the watertight boundaries in education Profile of a student is more important than marks obtained in one board examrdquoDr Shubha Pandit principal K J Somaiya College of EngineeringAt Dr Panditrsquos college phase one of provisional admissions has begun with candidatesrsquo JEE scores in the first two attempts It would also consider the score of the entrance test to be organised by Preeminent Education and Research Association PERA mdash a consortium of multiple private universities of MaharashtraAdmissions onPERA President Dr Mangesh Karad said ldquoWe held an entrance test even last year when we got over 1000 applications We expect more this year Amid an absence of clarity on Std XII results and other entrance exams this has worked really well for studentsrdquoAt HSNC University too the admission plan is all set Provost Dr Niranjan Hiranandani said ldquoWe have decided to proceed with inhouse students who wish to take direct admission in Arts Science or Commerce This will certainly be in alignment with the admission criterionrdquoDr Ashok Wadia principal Jai Hind CollegeAdmissions at SVKMrsquos NMIMS University are also going as per schedule Dr Meena Chintamaneni registrar at the deemedtobe university said ldquoInstead of focusing on studentsrsquo board exam scores the school has decided to start provisional admissions based solely on our test scores keeping in mind the eligibility stated by various statutory bodies We intend to commence the academic year for Undergraduate programs from Augustrdquo