With more number of students getting attracted to emerging branches like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Sciences etc, this year, the admissions in engineering colleges in Maharashtra rose to 82 per cent. This year, 1,49,078 students took admission against total intake of 1,80,170. For last three years, the seat vacancy issue seems to be waning. The vacancy is decreasing constantly. In 2023-24, the total intake was 1,58,585 and 1,18,037 students took admissions through Centralised Admission Process, conducted by Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell. In 2024-25, total 1,49,078 students took admissions against the total intake of 1,80,170. This year, more than 1.6 lakh students had applied for admissions to various courses being run by engineering colleges in State. The response itself was overwhelming. Last year too, the number of students applying for various engineering courses had crossed 1.55 lakh. This year, more girls have opted for engineering courses.

 

 

s compared to last year’s 38,626 girl students, this year 52,751 girls preferred engineering courses over other courses. Last year, 79,411 boys had taken admission. This year the number reached 96,326. Three years ago, many engineering institutions had to down their shutters as seat vacancy crossed 60%. But situation has changed now. If one takes a look at the reasons then one would notice that seats filled are in branches like Computer Engineering, Information Technology (IT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Data Sciences (DS). In last three years, most colleges surrendered the seats of Mechanical, Civil, Electronics branches and opted for AI, ML etc. There was a time when engineering courses reported vacancies to the extent of 85%.

 

This year, boom in technology sector made students to opt for technical education. Secondly, many colleges have acquired autonomous status, many received excellent grade from National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC). Most colleges have improved upon the tie-ups with multinational companies for jobs to their students. Many colleges were lacking in quality because of which students used to prefer only a handful of institutions. This, also, was the reason behind many seats remaining vacant Last year, 40,548 seats remained vacant while this year the number of vacant seats reduced to 31,092. The number of admissions last year reported were 74.43% while this year it rose to 82.74%. One more reason for falling out was the saturation in job market in manufacturing, infrastructure and real estate sectors. Post-COVID-19 pandemic situation gave this discipline a new thought--introduction to advanced technology courses.