Demand takes front seat at engineering colleges in Maharashtra

DTE steps up to reduce vacancies in undergrad courses

Struggling with vacant seats, the Maharashtra Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) plans to add or reduce the number of seats from the existing and proposed engineering colleges, depending on the demand, in its perspective plan for private and state-run institutes.

The DTE will study the trend in all private and state-run engineering colleges in the state, including VJTI College. (HT FILE)

While institutes have to submit perspective plans every five years, this is the first time DTE is preparing such a document for all engineering institutes in the state.

In 2017-18, Maharashtra’s engineering colleges could fill only 2,44,013 of the 4,20,861 seats – a vacancy of 42.02%. Taking the vacancy into account, DTE had earlier asked the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) not to permit new diploma or degree engineering institutes in the state.

Abhay Wagh, director, state Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), said, “The perspective plan will look at which branches of engineering get the least and most number of applications. This will help us understand the demand better.”

HT had reported how AICTE has refused to implement a blanket ban on new engineering institutes in the country for 2019-20, on the grounds that only private institutes see vacancies, while government-run colleges are doing well. “We can’t implement a ban on new private institutes and let government-run institutes flourish,” said Anil Sahastrabuddhe, chairman, AICTE.

A perspective plan, said Wagh, will help colleges find out why there are vacant seats and what can be done to reduce the number. “We are doing everything possible to bridge the gap between demand and supply for engineering seats. While individual institutes submit perspective plans, a collaborative plan will help us check the trend. We can introduce changes slowly,” said Wagh.

The work on the perspective plan is underway and DTE hopes to discuss other solutions with AICTE. “We will be talking to experts from the industry to get an overall perspective for the next five or ten years,” he said.