This means that all those who have cleared the MHT-CET exams recently with good scores can apply to 300 more seats in the government set-up.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis's home turf, Nagpur, has been granted another higher education institution. This time, it's a government engineering college that will start taking admissions from the current academic year.
This means that all those who have cleared the MHT-CET exams recently with good scores can apply to 300 more seats in the government set-up.
A few months ago, the state's higher and technical education department had proposed that one government engineering college be opened in every district. "Due to cost factors, only Nagpur has been fast-tracked," said an official.
The institute, which was approved by the All India Council of Technical Education recently, will offer five branches as of now. Computer Science, Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and Electronics and Telecommunication each would have 60 seats each. The availability of 300 more seats in the affordable education category, which already has a huge demand-supply gap, has given the candidates cause for cheer.
There were 367 colleges with over 1.5 lakh seats in 2015-16. This year's figure is yet to be released due to pending court cases. Of these, only 14 are government-run or government-aided autonomous institutions, which are high in demand not only because of better infrastructure and qualified faculty members but also lower fee structures and hostel expenses due to government subsidies.
However, these colleges altogether have over 6,000 seats. In comparison, there are nearly 60,000 candidates seeking admission in engineering courses in Maharashtra. Hence, most aspirants have to settle for poor quality institutes that charge hefty fees. This has also resulted in a 40-50% vacancy in engineering colleges in the past few years, with many institutes even closing down.
Nagpur also houses the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The city is set to witness a sea change within just one and a half years of Fadnavis's term as chief minister.
Most of the mega projects approved for Maharashtra by the Centre and the state in the past one and a half years are for Nagpur. Only a few months ago, a national law university was also set up in Nagpur, which will start taking admissions this year.
In 2015, four educational institutions of national importance (IIM, AIIMS, NIPER and IIIT) were set up in Nagpur. They are together valued at Rs3,500 crore in terms of investment.
Fadnavis has also gifted his home town with two unique universities — Skills University and Security University — which are the first of their kind in India. The city already has VNIT, a national institute of importance.
Some of these projects have been pushed to Nagpur to the detriment of other cities. For instance, both Mumbai and Aurangabad were expecting to get the prestigious IIM, but lost the race when the Union ministry of human resource development took a final call in January.
In the next few years, Nagpur will no longer remain only the winter capital of Maharashtra, say observers. "Nagpur will pip Mumbai soon in terms of job and education opportunities. This will also help the BJP build a young constituency supporting them in the next Assembly polls," said an observer.
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