Srinagar: The Central University of Kashmir (CUK) has, for the second year in a row, chosen the much-criticised “open admission” option to fill the empty Post Graduation (PG) seats in different departments due to a lack of applicants for the university’s academic courses.
The university management warned prospective students earlier this month that enrollment was expected to be low across the board.
All qualified applicants, regardless of whether they took part in the CUET-2023 or not, are encouraged to apply for open positions at CUK.
Additional information provided by the university indicated that admission was possible even without a CUET score.
However, the applicant must have taken a national exam that was administered by a U.S. college or university as well as a state or territorial institution. The announcement states, “The candidate will be admitted based on qualifying examination with basic eligibility.”
The CUK’s Department of Convergent Journalism recently announced via a spot admissions notice that few spaces were available.
“The eligible candidates who are interested in MA in Convergent Journalism and have either registered or not registered for admission in CUK should physically attend the department physically for spot admission at 10 am on September 28,” the announcement adds.
You may send your scanned copies of your qualifying papers to the Nodal Officer if you’re applying from outside of the city.
Concerns have been voiced by those with a vested interest in the institution since fewer students are applying to attend and fewer are being admitted.
Anybody who hears about the “spot admission notice” may show up and get admitted. Open admissions means anybody may apply, regardless of whether they took the entrance exam or not, according to one senior professor who asked not to be identified. As one professor put it, “this compromises merit and quality and breeds academic mediocrity.”
Professor X remarked that it doesn’t matter whether you take an entrance exam or apply yourself academically; the same goes for open admission.
For the second year in a row, the university has issued notifications for spot admissions despite receiving no applications, and the Department of Convergent Journalism is notably underrepresented.
Open admissions were granted to students who had not applied to the institution or taken the entrance test. This was a new policy instituted by the university last year. “Such actions do serious damage to the university’s reputation,” another professor said.
According to Greater Kashmir, a senior academician at CUK said that the university is often the “fallback option” for those seeking a graduate degree.
Students wishing to attend college at the CUK cannot stay in a hostel since none are available. The professor speculated that this may be a major factor in the declining number of applications.
The Vice Chancellor of CUK, Professor A. Ravinder Nath, declined to comment.
