Is MCA Losing its Lustre?

In a clear indication of the poor response from students to the Master of Computer Application (MCA) course, just over 15 per cent of seats available for this course under the single window counselling held at Government College of Technology has been filled for the current academic year.

The Government College of Technology has been conducting counselling to fill government quota seats for MBA and MCA courses at government, government-aided, private engineering and arts and science colleges.

The counselling for the MCA course commenced on July 26 and was held till August 1. This was conducted to fill a total of 14,778 seats available in 138 engineering and 124 arts and science colleges across the State.

As many as 3,168 candidates had applied for the MCA course, of which 54 applications were rejected and 3,114 candidates were called for counselling. But only 2,308 candidates attended the counselling.

"Of the 2,308 candidates, 2,294 were allotted seats and 14 students opted for refund of the counselling fee. At the end of the counselling, only 15.52% of the seats were taken up, while 12,484 seats (84.48%) remained vacant," said P Vijayan, Chief Coordinator, Tamil Nadu MBA MCA Counselling.

A majority of the students opted to study MCA in engineering colleges. While 1,816 students opted for engineering colleges, 478 students opted for arts and science colleges, Vijayan added.

Meanwhile, the single window counselling for MBA began on Sunday. During the counselling held for differently-abled persons on Sunday, 21 candidates were called in, of whom 18 were allotted seats. Totally, 15,840 MBA seats were available under government quota in 256 engineering colleges and 91 arts and science colleges.

The counselling for the general category of students which commenced on Monday will continue till August 13. Students can access their rank, counselling schedule and vacancy position at the Government College of Technology's website - www.gct.ac.in.

Source: New Indian Express