MA Punjabi a hit among students

Amit Bathla

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 25

The admission process for Session 2019-20 at city’s Punjab University Regional Centre (PURC) is underway with August 31 being the last date for fresh applicants.

A majority of student hailing from rural areas of the Malwa region are opting for MA (Punjabi), a 2-year postgraduation course. Though, the PURC has various undergraduate, postgraduate and doctorate courses such as BEd, MA (Economics), MA (English), LLB and MBA, but these have seen lesser number of takers as compared with MA (Punjabi).

The Head of the centre, Dr Balwinder Kaur, said: “MA (Punjabi) is the most sought-after course as only six seats are vacant. We are hopeful that these too will be filled soon. MA (English) has 15 seats remaining and MA (Economics) has 20.” The sanctioned intake for all three courses is 60 each. Even LLB has around 10 seats vacant, but all 15 seats of LLM have been taken.”

“The first round of counselling for BEd course is over. Many seats in this course are vacant,” Dr Balwinder told The Tribune.

The Head of the Department of Education, Kamaljeet Singh, said he did not have figures related to admission in his department.

Apart from these regular courses, the PURC has taken steps to improve the overall state of education in the region. “We provide free coaching for UGC-JRF examination. However, only students belonging to the centre can apply for it,” Kaur said.

The Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, has given his approval to start free IELTS coaching at the centre. Even outsiders will be allowed to take admission in the programme. There will also be no limitation on intake for this.”

“The centre is doing excellent in terms of providing quality education. The staff members are giving their 100 per cent but the infrastructure needs improvement. Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Vice-Chancellor have promised to take all necessary steps to make the centre an institution of excellence.”