Overseas dreams hit admissions

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 23

Foreign dreams being nurtured by Punjabi youth is having an adverse impact on admission trends in universities and colleges of the state.

Almost all universities, including private, have been getting affected with many of them claiming that the fall in admissions this time is up to 20 per cent. Even colleges, which have been most sought after till the last few years, are seeing a drop in admissions and had more intake this time of students from other states, including Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Though admissions with late fee will go on till August 31, most universities and colleges have been ruing about slow admission and poor response. Dr NP Singh, Dean, IK Gujral Punjab Technical University, said there had been a fall of up to 25 per cent admission in various undergraduate and postgraduate engineering and management courses being offered on the campus. “We had about 590 seats last time and we increased it this time, going by the previous trend. But students somehow seem to be more inclined on going to Canada after Class XII. We have been trying to tap such students too by collaborating specifically with Canadian universities,” he said.

Dean of regional campus of Guru Nanak Dev University at Jalandhar Dr Jotish Malhotra said, “Owing to more students making a beeline to Canada, we had to depend on more intake from other states, including Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Jharkhand this time.”

Principal Dr Sucharita of Apeejay College of Fine Arts too is disappointed with the admission trends. “We have two more days for admission without late fee, but I am not seeing any good sign. Even if students have applied with us, they are still awaiting their chance to go to a Canadian university. They are still holding their admission. They are making a complete mess of their career. They are not ready to take a three-year degree course here and instead want to opt for a one-year diploma course in Canada. But with students queuing up there, the Canadian Government is surely going to be more stringent. Ultimately, our Punjabi students will be losers.”

Dr Rohit Mehra of Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology said, “There is some fall in cut off percentages in admission to the courses.”

Anshu Kataria, president, Punjab Unaided Colleges Association and chairman of Aryans group, said, “The admission trends are good with degrees related to pharmacy, nursing and agriculture, perhaps because these course offer a good scope to students wanting to move to Canada. Engineering courses are seeing a huge drop and colleges of Punjab have become more dependent on students from other states. A new trend is intake of Nepali students this time.”

He added that the trend of increasing queues of students wanting to move to Canada could bounce back any day, which could be detrimental towards Punjabi youth who already had shown a tendency to take to drugs and crime.

Kamal Bhumla, chairman of the Association of Consultants for Overseas Studies, said, "About 90,000 students from Punjab had moved abroad last year. This time the Canadian Government has listed 200 colleges for admission. So the rush has increased. The current year figures will come later.”