‘Lower MH-CET scores may bring down competition’

City-based engineering institutes hope for smoother admission process, similar to last year, thanks to the dip in the Maharashtra-Common Entrance Test (MH-CET) scores. The state Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) had announced the MH-CET results on Saturday.

“The scores of students will make sure that competition stays similar to last year,” said B K Mishra, principal of Thakur College of Engineering.

Mishra added that the dip in the scores will help maintain a decent competition among students, instead of adding to their stress.

Fewer students have scored high marks in the Physics-Chemistry-Mathematics (PCM) section of the MH-CET, a summary of the results released on Saturday has revealed.

According to the state CET cell, 22,844 students who opted for the PCM combination have scored 100 marks and above out of the total 200 marks.

Last year, 23,078 students had scored in this category.

Colleges feel the seats in state-run engineering institutes are once again gaining importance among engineering aspirants for various reasons.

“This year, registrations for MH-CET were the highest in a few years. Earlier, students used to keep CET results as a backup if their plan to get through an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) failed,” the director of another engineering institute said.

“However, now institutes closer home are winning the confidence of many students. This might be one of the reasons why vacancies are declining in colleges,” the director said.

While in 2016-17 almost 45% of engineering seats across the state were vacant, the situation eased in 2017-18 with the vacancy rate dropping to 36%.

However, not everyone who scored well in the entrance exam will seek a seat.

Shubha Pandit, principal of K J Somaiya College of Engineering, said, “There are many students who give the CET as well as the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) every year. Till admissions to engineering institutes don’t begin, we will not know which student chose what.”

“The state should not drag the engineering admission process, because that gives students more time to choose other options over engineering,” Pandit said.

The students were able to check their individual MH-CET results online on Sunday.