Pune: As the institutional-level admissions will begin from February 5 for engineering courses, this year’s trend shows students going only for few specialisations like computer science, artificial intelligence, data science and instrumentation. Traditional engineering specialisations like mechanical, chemical, civil and other courses are hardly getting student admissions. Pharmacy courses are also getting few takers across the state.
A senior state education department official on condition of anonymity said, “Computer science and artificial intelligence specialisation for engineering courses are in demand this year. In such tough times of Covid-19 pandemic where each college and institute is struggling to survive, they cannot sustain if seats for various courses remain vacant. Several engineering colleges across the state have yet to see a single admission.”
Admission process of various engineering and other professional courses got delayed this year.
“There are students waiting for the institutional-level round to start, just to get the college and specialisation of their choice. Hence, vacancy rate is high across the state. There are limited seats for the selected engineering specialisation that students seek admission. If admission is not done this year, many students have decided to skip this year and try next year with fresh CET exam and admission process.” said Prof Kishore Tayade, from one of the engineering colleges from Pune.