Management Courses: A Comeback in Lucknow University

Management courses seem to be a comeback in Lucknow University this year. The total number of applicants who applied for Lucknow University Associated Colleges Management Admission Test (LUACMAT) have almost doubled as compared to previous years. This test is a gateway to undergraduate courses in management, mass communication, tourism studies and computer applications among others run by 10 colleges associated with Lucknow University. It includes National PG College, Lal Bhadur Shastri Girls College of Management, Modern Girls College of Professional Studies, Ram Swaroop Memorial College of Management, Sherwood College of Management, Goel Institute of Higher Studies, Career Degree College, Charak Institute of Education, Satyanand Institute of Higher Education and Shri Narain Institute.

Rakesh Jain, LUACMAT admission coordinator said, admissions to the colleges are based on merit. The total cut-off in respective courses decides which college a student would take admission. When the management admission test was started, there was a huge demand for it. On the contrary, the number of applications were very low. But now it seem that the craze for management courses is back, he added.

Last year, out of 420 seats in BBA, around 200 were vacant, and in BCA, 50 seats remained vacant out of 420. Students prefer pursuing B.Com (Hons) over BBA as it opens more avenues for them because with BBA or BCA, one is restricted to MBA or MCA. Another factor behind the fall in the number of applicants was the huge fee to be paid by students. College officials said that when LUACMAT was started, the fee for management courses was Rs 9,000 per semester in comparison to 30000 per semester as if now. A good number of students find a job in business process outsourcing (BPO) companies like IBM, HDFC, HP and few insurance companies which pay nearly Rs 2.25- 2.5 lakh to students..