The university officials say they cannot discontinue these courses because MSU is the only university in the city; besides the University Grants Commission refuses to give the permission to close them down.

While the number of students joining these courses has been on the decline for the past few years, the university attributes it to the limited scope the courses offer.

A few years ago the number of students enrolling themselves for courses like Pali, Prakrit and Sanskrit was around 150; today the number has gone down to 40 in Sanskrit and Pali and Prakrit courses have attracted no students at all.

The number of students pursuing Philosophy has dropped from 15 to two or three, the departments of Arabic, Urdu and Persian doesn't see more than two-three students every year.

``What does a student do after obtaining a degree in Philosophy,'' asks A Pepalla, a senior professor with the department of English. Earlier, knowledge of languages was essential to get a job, but now even students are aware that knowledge of a subject doesn't help much in the present scenario, he says.

H M Pandey, principal of the Sanskrit Mahavidyalay, while admitting that the number of students getting enrolled in courses like Pali, Prakrit or Sanskrit, was declining, states that earlier knowledge of Sanskirt was regarded as an asset, which was not the case today, and hence the decline.

Rubbishing charges of the limited scope the language offers, he says those pursuing the language can go in for the teaching profession. Now even computer experts have realised the importance of the language, he adds.

Students taking these courses, too, don't share much enthusiasm. Praveen Rane, a student of the Department of Marathi, said he was aware that learning the language wouldn't guarantee him a job, but the in-depth knowledge of a language interested him and so he was into it.

He says neither his family nor his friends approve of his graduating with Marathi.

Another student of the department of Hindi, Neera Desai says she will never opt for courses like Arabic, Persian or Philosophy even if she can't get admission in any of the courses. She says a degree in Hindi can at least get her a job in travel and tourism or even schools.

Reshmi Sehgal, pursuing the travel and tourism course, points out that though many universities offer certificate courses only the MSU offered it as a separate subject. She says the language offered limited scope and hence not many were interested. Pro vice-chancellor Deepak Kumar De too admits that some of these disciplines were a financial burden to the university as there were very few students pursuing them. He says there was very little chance of reviving these courses and expect more students.

``The departments cannot be closed because of UGC directives, even though we are aware that they don't offer much scope,'' De said, adding with the university having no affiliated colleges, it had to offer the courses to those coming to study.