Academic Calendar Delay: Second CET for BBA, BMS, BCA

Admissions and Academic Schedule Impacted

Mumbai: The state government has announced an additional Common Entrance Test (CET) for BBA, BMS, and BCA courses. This decision will likely impact the academic calendar in degree colleges.

How Admissions Are Affected

• The delay will leave seats vacant in other courses.
• Students from traditional courses like BCom, BA, or BSc may switch to these professional courses if they secure seats.

Higher Education Minister Chandrakant Patil announced the second phase of CET for BMS, BBA, and BCA last week. The state’s CET cell issued a notice to students but has not yet started accepting applications.

Delayed Admission Process

• After registration, the cell will conduct the CET.
• Results will be announced.
• The Centralised Admission Process (CAP) will begin.

This process will delay admissions even for students who took the CET in the first phase. Last year, admissions were also delayed as the CET was conducted in two phases.

College Principals’ Concerns

One principal noted that last year, lectures for these courses started in October. “We engaged our teachers and students during October, December, and May vacations to make up for the lost days,” he said.

Another principal mentioned that delayed admissions in BMS will affect other programs. “After securing a seat in BMS through CAP, students will cancel admissions in BCom or other programs. If this happens in August or September, those seats remain vacant. We can’t fill them as other students may have already attended lectures for over two months,” said the principal.

Possible Changes in College Rules

A principal from a suburban college said this was the second year for the state’s CET after these courses came under AICTE purview. “If the government does not streamline the process, some colleges may decide to opt out of AICTE regulations. They might change the course names to BCom (Management Studies) or BCom (Business Administration) and stay under the parent university’s rules. Colleges that changed names have already filled their seats in the first three rounds of admissions,” she said.