Over 51,000 engineering seats vacant in state despite rounds of CAP completion

Despite the completion of three rounds of the Centralized Admission Process CAP for engineering courses across Maharashtra a significant number of seats remain vacant in various branchesData shared by the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test CET cell from the recently concluded third round reveals that more than 51000 seats are still available raising concerns about student enrollment in key fieldsThe total intake capacity for engineering courses across the state is 164336 with 112981 students admitted so far leaving 51355 seats vacantThese vacancies are spread across several engineering branches including highdemand fields like Computer Science and Engineering CSE Information Technology IT and Artificial Intelligence AIIn Mumbai the region with the highest intake capacity a total of 33776 seats were available Despite admitting 21399 students nearly 12377 seats remain unfilled Branches like Mechanical Engineering Civil Engineering and AIrelated courses have seen significant shortfalls For instance Mechanical Engineering in Mumbai recorded 1809 vacancies after admitting only 1524 students Civil Engineering fared worse with 1444 seats still availableSimilarly in Pune out of 66817 available seats 48157 students have been admitted leaving 18660 vacancies Mechanical Engineering once a soughtafter branch saw 2964 seats remain vacant after three rounds of admissions reflecting a broader trend of declining interest in traditional engineering disciplinesRegions like Nagpur Aurangabad and Nashik have also struggled to fill their seats In Nagpur 5643 seats are still vacant with branches like Civil Engineering and Computer Science showing significant gaps In Aurangabad a region that offered 12528 seats nearly 5295 vacancies were recorded across various disciplinesThe demand for emerging fields like AI Data Science and Cyber Security is evident but even these fields are experiencing gaps For example AI and Data Science courses across the state have 3794 seats remaining after admitting 2894 students said a teacher of an engineering college in Navi MumbaiThe shortage of enrollments has raised concerns among educational institutions as well as policymakers Industry experts point to a possible saturation of engineering seats in the state coupled with changing preferences among students who are now gravitating towards nontraditional fields shortterm professional courses and international education said a former principal Despite the growing interest the vacancies highlight a mismatch between student preferences and the course offerings especially in traditional fields like Mechanical and Civil Engineering which continue to see lower enrollment compared to newer emerging branches She saidWhile a final round of CAP may help fill some of these vacancies the high number of unfilled seats reflects deeper challenges in the statersquos engineering education landscape The state government and academic institutions are likely to reevaluate their course offerings and admissions processes to align with current industry demands and student preferencesLast year a total of 161336 candidates registered for the Centralized Admission Process CAP for admission to engineering colleges according to data shared by the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test CET cell While the number of candidates registering for engineering admissions has seen an increase a substantial number of seats remain vacant across the stateThe CET cell however emphasized that the availability of seats ensures that no eligible student will be left without a seatSeats DataMaharashtraTotal Intake 164336Admitted 112981Vacancy 51355MumbaiTotal Intake 33776Admitted 21399Vacancy 12377