1.2 lakh MBA, BTech seats likely to go vacant in Uttar Pradesh

Despite a significant rise in the number of engineering and management colleges in Uttar Pradesh, the number of MBA and B Tech aspirants is on a decline.

According to the Director of GCRG Memorial Trust, Vinod Shankar Pandey, there is an acute shortage of students this year. He said many new colleges lack infrastructure and have poor placement record and this could be the main reason the students are not interested in taking admission. Experts said this may also force some of the private engineering and management colleges to close down.

Sources in the education department said barely 50,000 students will appear for counseling for engineering and management courses, starting next week, but there are 170,000 seats available. Out of the 660 seats in the 11 management courses in Lucknow University, 223 seats remained vacant this year. Not a single student opted for the MBA courses in Agriculture Management and Rural Development.

According to officials, students who cleared the State Entrance Examination (SEE) and Management Admission Test (MAT) for admission in B.Tech and MBA are opting for colleges in Noida, Ghaziabad and Meerut because of better placement records. The 600-odd management and engineering colleges in Uttar Pradesh are affiliated to either Gautam Buddha Technical University (GBTU) or Mahamaya Technical University (MTU). About 114,000 seats are available for B.Tech, while for MBA there are 33,600 seats and 965 for MCA. In B.Pharma there are 8,250 seats available in UP colleges.