The number of students interested in a career in engineering in Maharashtra has increased this year with 1.09 lakh students confirming BTech seats. According to the Times Of India report, computer science was the most popular, with almost all seats taken, while courses such as robotics and agricultural technology had zero participants.
The Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell released admission data for BE and BTech admissions in state engineering colleges on Tuesday evening. It showed a significant increase from last year’s 88,376 confirmed admissions, when the total capacity was 1,39,484 seats. In the case of computer technology, 21,058 of the 22,051 available places are occupied.
According to Chandrashekhar Kulkarni, a senior faculty member at Thadomal Shahani College of Engineering, the increased student interest is due to better grades in grade 12, encouraging more candidates to take the matriculation exam. He added that IIT Advanced’s results, on the other hand, were rather poor, causing students to migrate to public colleges.
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The seats in programs such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain technology and data science are also almost filled.
Even electronics and telecommunication technology have attracted a large number of candidates. It is the third largest branch in terms of the number of seats whose popularity soared this year with 15,598 candidates (17,364 seats) opting for it.
However, Mechanical Engineering, with the most seats in Maharashtra (24,819), saw fewer students opt for it. With nearly 50 percent of available seats, only 12,229 students enrolled in this core branch. Similarly, only 7,271 students enrolled in the 18,622 available seats in civil engineering.
Vaibhav Narawde, senior member of the computer science faculty, told the leading daily: “Interest in emerging fields of computer and IT had increased since the AICTE gave them the approval.” He went on to say that students all over the tech industry heard about layoffs. Still, most believe this is a passing phase and technology will play a bigger role in the coming days.
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