Campus connect: 45% seats vacant in engineering diploma courses in Pune region

Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education started admissions early, held awareness events, but failed to reach 100% mark

The admission process for engineering diploma in the state is over and after three rounds of centralised admission process (CAP) 15,725 seats out of the total 34,834 are still vacant. The vacant seat percentage is 45 for the Pune region comprising five districts — Pune, Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli and Solapur.

Post three centralised admission process rounds of the engineering diploma for Pune region, at least 45 per cent seats remained vacant. (In pic) Government polytechnic college, Pune. (Milind Saurkar/HT Photo)

Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education (MSBTE) conducts the admission for engineering diploma for two categories – after Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams or Class 10 for first year diploma and after Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) or Class 12 for second year diploma.

“Post three CAP rounds of the engineering diploma for Pune region, at least 45 per cent seats remained vacant. The figure is better than last year when more than 50 per cent seats were vacant in Pune region. The seat vacancy for second year diploma admissions is 57 per cent, which is a matter of concern as students have not taken admission despite enrolling for it,” said Rajendra Gaikwad, assistant director, MSBTE.

“We started the admission procedure earlier this year, on April 28, as till last year we would start the process after the SSC results were declared. It was one of the reasons that the seats remained vacant for last year. We carried out a drive to create awareness and increase the number of diploma admissions this year and we are satisfied with this year’s admissions. We hope to do better next year and encourage more students to join the course. Our officials have taken a lot of efforts this year to increase the number of applications and the result is positive,” said Gaikwad.

Talking about this year’s admissions, Surendra Giram, principal, AISSMS College of Polytechnic, Pune said, “There is an overall improvement in Pune region and also in our college. Admission in our college has touched 65 per cent as compared to 57 per cent done last year. The initiatives carried out by Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education staff have helped encourage students and take admission.”

Available, vacant seats

Seats available in Pune region for after SSC diploma – 34,834

Seats vacant for after SSC diploma – 15,725 (45 per cent)

Admissions taken for after SSC diploma – 19,109

Seats available in the Pune region for after HSC diploma – 23,065

Seats vacant for after HSC diploma – 13,118 (57 per cent)

Admissions taken for after SSC diploma – 9,947