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Covid impact: Engineering courses see a surge of applicants this year
Number of students applying for engineering courses have increased this year compared to 2020 and the reason, according to experts, is that professional courses offer more job prospects especially during the Covid pandemic period
Pune: Number of students applying for engineering courses have increased this year compared to 2020 and the reason, according to experts, is that professional courses offer more job prospects especially during the Covid pandemic period.
With the admission process underway for various courses, it is seen that the students applying for professional courses has increased in this academic year. The state Common Entrance Test (CET) cell held CET exams for various professional courses like engineering, pharmacy, management, law and others while registration of students seeking admission to these courses went considerably high for this year.
As per the information shared by the state CET cell, in this academic year a total of 107,732 students have applied for online admission process for engineering courses in the state. During previous academic year for which admission process was concluded by February 2021 due to Covid induced restrictions, 96,337 students had applied for the courses.
As the applications were fewer compared to intake capacity, 55,444 seats (44.7%) of the over 1.23 lakh in the first-year engineering courses across the state had remained vacant at the end of the Centralised Admission Process for the academic year 2020-21.
During 2019, of 1.28 lakh seats, 62,086 (49%) were vacant in various engineering colleges across Maharashtra.
Similarly, professional courses such as management and master in computer applications, there has been a rise in applications. Students taking direct admission to second year in engineering and pharmacy after completing diploma have also increased, said officials from CET.
Last year, 42,815 students had applied for Master in Business Administration (MBA). This year, the number has gone up to 54,227. The number of students seeking direct admission in second year pharmacy course last year was 10,272, while this year it has gone up to 12,374.
“There is good response to online admission process and registration of students in this academic year. Especially for the engineering courses, there has been a considerable rise in student registration this year. Students have preferred to choose the engineering sector looking at the job opportunities, mainly due to pandemic which has adversely affected other sectors. There has been good campus placements for engineering students in the last two years,” said a senior official from the state CET cell.
Prof Mangesh Nagamurti from a private engineering institute said, “All the admissions for our computer science, mechanical and artificial intelligence have got a good number of students registration. The trend for this year is mostly seen towards professional courses rather than the traditional arts, commerce and science graduation. Students want to go for courses which can get good job opportunities in the future,”
Pharmacy college professor Shrikant Borate said, “Due to the pandemic there was high demand for various types of medicines and other medical equipment. Even the business of medical shops and pharmacy industry boomed in last two years. Hence, many students are now preferring to go for pharmacy courses after completing Class 12. This is the field which gives job opportunities in any situation and students prefer this course due to financial crisis situation during Covid pandemic.”
