Student enrollment drops at over 100 affiliated colleges of Bamu

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Student enrollment has nosedived at as many as 102 affiliated colleges of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu).

The Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, informed the university about the decline during the academic year 2023-24 as compared to 2022-23.

The drop in student enrollment has been reflected in All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), an annual exercise conducted by the education ministry to collect and analyse comprehensive data on higher education institutions across the country.

Bamu public relations officer Sanjay Shinde said an immediate clarification regarding the decline in student numbers had been sought from the concerned colleges.

“The clarification will be shared with the central authorities. If any college fails to provide information regarding the discrepancies in student numbers, it will be permanently de-affiliated from the AISHE portal,” he said.

BAMU has around 489 affiliated colleges in total and one-fifth of the institutes have reported drop in student enrollment.

Elaborating upon the decline in student numbers, a senior Bamu official said lack of manpower and infrastructure and shift in choice of courses by students are two main reasons behind the drop.

“In the recent past, the university had cut down on the intake capacity of a group of colleges as they were lacking infrastructure and manpower. These colleges will now have to officially admit their shortcomings in the AISHE portal while pinpointing reasons for the decline in numbers of students,” he said.

The BAMU official said students have turned back to some of the courses run by colleges in question. “If there is any major trend in choice of courses, it calls for introspection by involving all. Such courses can be modified or replaced,” he said.

The 102 colleges are spread across Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Beed and Dharashiv districts having jurisdiction of Bamu.

TOI tried to contact authorities from a couple of colleges but they refused to comment. “We have submitted our explanation in writing to the university,” one college official said skirting further queries.