Kashmir’s higher education in crisis as enrollments plummet across universities, colleges

Srinagar, Sep 7: The Higher Education sector seems to be facing a grim scenario, with enrollments across colleges and universities in Kashmir declining significantly, even as experts weigh in reasons for the fall in admissions.

The universities in the Valley, including the University of Kashmir (KU), the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), and the Central University of Kashmir (CUK), are all struggling to fill the vacant seats for various courses.

The situation in some colleges is no different, which are receiving a lukewarm response from students for admission in UG courses.

However, the officials said that the admissions in degree colleges have increased this year and acknowledged that some colleges were facing challenges to attract students for admissions.

The decline in admissions at the university level can be gauged from the fact that the universities have literally thrown the admissions open for anyone and everyone.

Earlier, the authorities at KU and CUK issued a notification for spot admissions for the candidates in various courses.

The notification issued by the Director of the Directorate of Admissions and Competitive Examinations said that students who had not appeared in the entrance would be selected on the basis of on-spot counseling.

Similarly, the CUK in its notification offered spot admissions in few PG and UG courses.

“In view of the vacancies in a few UG and PG programmes offered by the CUK, spot admissions are opened for the non-CUET candidates who are interested in seeking admissions in any of the programmes with vacant seats,” the notification reads.

Amid the dip in admissions, experts believe that there are few takers for admission in UG and PG courses, particularly in traditional subjects.

“Subjects like Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, and others find no takers now,” a senior academic said. He said the problem started at UG level a few years ago and later had its impact at PG level.

“During the previous years, the colleges witnessed a continuous decline in admissions. Obviously, the number of students opting for PG courses will be low if the enrollment at the UG level declines,” he said.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, Vice Chancellor (VC) CUK, Prof A Ravinder Nath, while referring to the spot admissions, said there was no proper response to some of the disciplines, which prompted the university to offer spot admissions.

“We are really introspecting, and I am trying to look into the research profile and academic profile and everything. Some departments are lagging as it seems local students are not sensitised to appear for the CUET exam,” he said.

Prof Nath said CUK was not the only institution witnessing a dip in admissions, but it was a trend all over the country. “The postgraduate admissions are minimising because people immediately after graduation look for some skill training and securing jobs. So, that is one of the major reasons for the decline in admissions,” he said.

Prof Nath said that the university was mulling over revising certain disciplines and making them employment-oriented.

“Even our media studies department is running behind. Our tourism programme is not able to attract students,” he said.

Registrar IUST, Prof Wahid Makhdoomi, told Greater Kashmir that the varsity was performing well in almost all the courses except a few courses offered at the UG level.

“Last year we had to exceed our intake capacity in some courses, but yes, this is true that traditional courses are finding no takers. Subjects like Maths, Physics, and Chemistry find no takers,” he said.

Makhdoomi said that IUST also faces a challenge in these courses.

“But compared to last year, this year we got a good response in the Chemistry UG course,” he said.

Makhdoomi said the IUST increased the intake capacity in B Tech Computer Science from 60 to 127, given the response of the students.

“We have started courses on AI and Drone Technology, and students are attracted towards such courses,” he said.

However, Makhdoomi said that the decline in enrollment was a serious problem at UG and PG levels.

Registrar KU Prof Naseer Iqbal told Greater Kashmir that the varsity had got a good response this year for admissions except for Linguistics, Sanskrit, and Hindi.

However, a notification issued by the Director in the Directorate of the Directorate of Admissions and Competitive Examinations states that seats are vacant in several courses either at the main campus or satellite campuses and affiliated colleges under the Open Merit and Self Finance Category.

Director of the Directorate of Admissions and Competitive Examinations, Prof Fayaz Ahmad, attributed the decline in admissions to “multiple reasons,” including lack of job opportunities, decline in admissions at the college level besides other reasons as well.

“A person invests in something only when he is sure to get returns, but these days our youth know that jobs have shrunk, so they see a bleak future as our previous PhD degree holders are jobless,” Prof Fayaz told Greater Kashmir.

He said that a course like M Ed would get an enormous response from candidates, even in the Self Finance Category, knowing that B Ed and M Ed courses would help secure more points in teacher recruitment.

“But, at present, we are issuing repeated notifications to fill seats in M Ed course because nobody is interested now as there are no jobs in the Education Department,” Prof Fayaz said. He also attributed the decline to the establishment of other universities in the Valley.

“Earlier, KU was the only university in the valley, and all the students would apply here, but now we have four universities. So it will obviously have an impact on enrollment. Besides universities, we have a few autonomous colleges which offer PG courses independently,” Prof Fayaz said.

He said that since the launch of FYUG Programmes at the UG level, the students prefer to spend four years at the college instead of going to university for two years.

“Under the FYUG programme, students prefer to complete their course at college level instead of going to the university,” he said.