Master of Business Administration, which used to be a status symbol only two decades ago, has reduced itself to a poor man's degree if the salaries offered to fresh MBA grads at GTU are anything to go by. While around 62% MBA seats are vacant this year, employers are hiring MBA graduates for as less as Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 and the varsities are not even letting out a whimper.Gujarat Technological University conducted a three-day placement for a finance company which made it clear beforehand that it would offer not more than Rs 1.44 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh per annum to students from Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat. Rural students would be hired for Rs 1.20 lakh to Rs 1.44 lakh per annum by the company, according to the information put up on GTU website by the varsity's Integrated Training and Placement Cell (ITAP).Around 300 students had participated in the recruitment interviews conducted by this company, according to GTU officials. These are the students who have paid between Rs 55,000 to Rs 1lakh to pursue the course. A student who participated in the placements that concluded on Tuesday said on condition of anonymity, "We passed out in April and have not been able to find a job yet. There are no takers for MBA, it seems. Had I known the job scene would be so disappointing, I would have pursued BCom. I frankly do not mind a salary of Rs 10,000 per month.Something is better than nothing."ITAP Head Apurv Raval said, "In the threeday placement, 300 MBA graduates from across the state had participated. Around 30 were shortlisted. We make best efforts to ensure that the graduates get maximum salaries. However, in several cases the initial salary is less. Recently, Axis Security was on campus for placements and offered an annual package of Rs 1.50 lakh while engineers were offered Rs 3.6 lakh per annum by Wipro."However, Gujarat University vice chancellor MN Patel, is of the opinion that the varsity should put its foot down and fight for its students. "There are 100 applicants for one job these days. Two to three years ago, the recruiting companies offered attractive packages, but now that is not the case. That said, GTU should learn to negotiate with the companies and get the best packages for its students rather than letting them down." He added, "Once you allow a company to pick your student for as less as Rs 1.80 lakh, then the next company would offer even less."Janak Khandwala, president, Association of SFI Professional Institutes said, "As far as MBA is concerned, GTU has not even designed the course properly. It should ideally be case-study based and there should be more field work. Students who pursue the course should be able to meet the requirements of the industry. Besides, nowadays there is a huge demand-supply gap and that has led to the drop in salary packages." Not just MBA, even MCA (Master of Computer Application) has around 80 per cent seats vacant. In precise numbers, it means out of total 21,260 MBA, MCA and MCA (lateral) seats, only 4,389 have been filled while 16,871 are still vacant.Admission Committee for Professional Courses (ACPC) has added that the number of vacant seats could be even higher as many candidates who have secured admission to MBA may opt for other courses. An ACPC official said, "There were totally 21,260 seats in MBA, MCA and MCA Lateral. Out of them, 16,871 are still vacant. In MBA course, 2,408 seats have been filled while 6,211are vacant; in MCA, only 538 seats have been filled while 4,521are vacant; and in MCA (lateral), 6,139 seats are vacant and only 1,443 seats are filled in." ACPC Member Secretary G P Vadodaria said, "The first round of seat allotment was done on Tuesday. Around 80 per cent seats are vacant in MBA, MCA and MCA (Lateral) courses. More seats could fall vacant in the coming days."Importatn dates: MBA / MCAJuly 26 to July 29 - Deposition of tuition fees in bank and online generation of admission slipJuly 27 to July 30 - Online cancellation of admissionJuly 27 to July 30 - Consent of reshuffling, filling and alteration of choices (if any) in Round 2August 4 - Commencement of academic term