MBA loses sheen as students look for job security

Small, medium institutes suffer 30% intake dip as placements remain weak

Several MBA institutes across the city have witnessed a sharp drop in number of admissions for the batch of 2010-2012. Though the big names in the sector are going strong, medium and small institutes have seen a 30 per cent drop in their intake.

According to Manish Kumar Santosh, board member, AIMS Institute of Management, the drop was bound to happen after the slowdown.

Hesitant students
"Students are hesitant. Admissions in management institutes for an MBA degree are below the usual level as there are no fresh requirements from companies," said Santosh. "Adding to this, several banks have come
with thousands of vacant posts, which are more secure jobs."

CAT still attractive
But the number of applicants for CAT, MAT, XAT and other admission tests have not seen much of a drop.
It shows students who take these high-profile tests keep their options open till the last and take a call after the examinations depending on job market indicators.

But the same did not apply to entrance tests of local colleges, where even the number of applications for entrance tests saw a dip.

"A number of institutes, including Bharti Vidyapeeth, had to postpone their entrance test because of lack of applications. This institute had to postpone the date from March 15 to April 11. During the entrance test, the results were quite disappointing."

Experts said there were various reasons behind the sudden change.

MNS effect
One of the reasons they cited was the campaign against north Indians by the Raj Thackeray-led MNS.
A consultant, Anurag Shiv, who works in close association with some big names from industry, said it was tough counselling parents in the scenario. "Pune gets a large number of students from the north but as people from the north have become targets for political groups, families are now insecure," he said.

It is the autonomous and AICTE courses which have seen a drop.

Sachin Desai, admission assistant, MIT School of Business, admits they were grappling to get admissions. "We have 240 seats, and it's still a difficult task filling these up."