05 July,2011 06:46 AM IST | | Parth Satam
1.14 lakh applications received by Dept of Technical Education; admission cut-offs may drop
The results of the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MH-CET) are now out, and the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) has seen a decrease in the number of applications for engineering colleges compared to previous years. Officials from the DTE have also hinted that the cut-offs for engineering admissions might go down.
While it may be too early to say the stream is losing its sheen, the fact is that the downward trend has been evident since last year, when around 2,000 engineering seats were left unfilled in colleges across the state.
Besides colleges in the city, Mumbai and Nagpur, 100 colleges in the state were unable to fill their seats last year.
According to DTE State Director SK Mahajan, the department has received 1.14 lakh applications for admissions to engineering colleges this year. "This is quite low compared to the number we had last year. An increase in the number of seats is also expected, but a confirmed trend will only be visible a few days later," Mahajan said.
According to Professor Jayant Bapat, Head of Department of Telecomm-unication of the Maharashtra Academy of Engineering, the CET results this year have seen a lot of failures. "This may be one of the reasons why there have been fewer applications for engineering. However, it is too early to predict whether cut-offs would fall or not," he said.
Bapat said it would be wrong to say the stream was no longer attractive. "India's growth path demands technical expertise. Technological development has been taking place rapidly and India will need more engineers and scientists," Bapat said. "The number of students choosing a technical career is bound to increase."
The MH-CET results were not as good this year as in previous years; not a single student scored 200 out of 200. Even the number of high-scorers was lower, and that is why the likelihood of a drop in cut-offs is high. "Usually a score of 190 and more is expected to get a student into reputable colleges like COEP. This year it might be slightly lower," said a senior DTE official.
Anil Sahasrabudhe, director of the College of Engineering Pune, said there was a strong possibility the cut-offs would come down. "As a result of the current situation, it (the cut-off) will probably come down by 10-15 marks," he said.
On the lower number of applications, Sahasrabudhe said that engineering still was the most sought-after field. "Since many universities and colleges are coming up these days, it gives a feeling that a lot of seats are available and thus students vie for admissions. Around 15-20 colleges and institutes have already come up recently," he said.
