PUNE: From 50% five years ago to 75% this year, engineering seats are full and the stream is back in focus in Maharashtra due to a rising demand for computer, IT and electronics professionals in the market. Engineering admissions in the state concluded last week and 1,17,994 students across six divisions including Amravati, Pune, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Nashik, and Nagpur confirmed their seats in various colleges against a total intake of 1,58,585 seats. The introduction of the bilingual method of teaching and the response to it from 175 colleges in Maharashtra also ensured seat confirmations this year. State director of technical education Vinod Mohitkar, said, "After the pandemic, industries have opened up and now they require a trained workforce. This has translated into more admissions for engineering courses and as usual IT, computer, and electronics streams lead the pack because of good job opportunities." In 2018-19, the percentage of admissions against overall engineering seats in the state was just 41% which improved to 50% the following year, and this academic year, the admissions have been the highest in five years, according to data by the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) cell.Academician Prafulla Nagargoje said that a few years ago, proposals for new engineering colleges were overwhelming and then there was a problem of plenty. Then, the AICTE received several requests to shut down colleges because they were not getting enough students to fill up the seats and there was a mismatch. "Now, there is a level playing field with equal opportunities, seats, and the corresponding demand for professionals. Next year too the competition will be high and the vacancy could be very low," he added.This year, the number of applications for engineering seats was also overwhelming as 1.69 lakh students applied for the undergraduate course. The applications were more than any other professional course, including management, pharmacy, agriculture, and hotel management. It indicated the inclination of students towards engineering. Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering is the only college in the country that recorded full admission in its new division to teach engineering in the mother tongue for all three years since it began. Principal Govind Kulkarni said, "Computer and related branches always get filled up fast, but the electronics and telecommunication seats also received a good response this year and the cut-off for this branch was 96.6% in our college. The reason for this field doing particularly well is because of the advent of the semiconductor industry and the opportunities coming from this sector." For their regional engineering course, the seats were all full for the third consecutive year with a very high cut-off of 97.7%, the best so far. The seats in government colleges have filled up to 97% while in aided colleges the vacancy is only 10%.

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