This year, the total number of colleges in the Mumbai division has also gone up from 739 to 778
Students seeking admission to first year junior college (FYJC) in Mumbai have a lot to cheer about, as the state education department has added more than 13 thousand seats and 39 new colleges for the upcoming academic year (2017-18).
With this, the total number of seats for Mumbai has gone up to 2,92,090 from 2,78,282 last year, with 13,808 more seats up for grabs. This year, the total number of colleges in the Mumbai division has also gone up from 739 to 778.
While the seats for Commerce and Science streams have gone up considerably, those for Arts have gone down despite the overall high demand for the stream in the last few years. "Some divisions in a few colleges with low intake for the Arts stream seem to have shut down, bringing down the number of seats," said BB Chavan, Deputy Director of Education for the Mumbai region.
The admission process for FYJC is expected to kickstart a bit late this year as compared to last year as the state education department is yet to come up with its online portal with new options as per the changed format.
"We are working towards speeding up the back-end work to start the online process soon. The system should be ready by the end of this month," said Chavan.
Some of the changes made in the system include bringing down the college options from 35 to 10 and not allowing provisional admission to students.
Principals said that more seats might not necessarily bring down the cut-offs as the demand is largely concentrated in some top colleges. "Most students prefer some top colleges and the demand for these colleges goes up each year. While more seats would certainly help, it is important to see as to where these seats are," said Ashok Wadia, Principal, Jai Hind College of Arts, Science and Commerce. The college is going to hold a session for parents and students to demonstrate the new admission process on May 29.
In numbers:
| Stream |
Number of seats 2016-17 |
Number of seats 2017-18 |
| Arts |
35269 |
34180 |
| Commerce |
157702 |
160870 |
| Science |
85311 |
91010 |
| HSC-MCVC |
-- |
6030 |
| In-house quota |
36961 |
38372 |
| Minority seats |
73523 |
79430 |
| Management seats |
13944 |
14606 |
| Total seats |
278282 |
292090 |
| Total colleges |
739 |
778 |
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Students")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}