Mumbai: The Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Department announced the Common Entrance Test for admission to free full-time training programmes for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Preliminary Examination. Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Dada Patil said the initiative aimed to support aspiring civil servants from across the state by providing quality coaching through government-run training centres.
The State Institute for Administrative Careers (SIAC), Mumbai, was entrusted with conducting the entrance examination and overseeing the admission process. According to the minister, students selected through the CET would receive free residential and non-residential training at designated centres across Maharashtra.
The training programme was to be offered through SIAC, Mumbai, and the Indian Administrative Services Pre-Training Centres located in Nashik, Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Amravati and Nagpur. In addition, candidates would have the option of receiving coaching at the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Competitive Examination Guidance Centre operated by YASHADA in Pune and the Savitribai Phule Academy run by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.
The department also released the schedule for the admission process. Online applications had commenced on June 1 and were scheduled to remain open until June 30. Candidates were required to pay the examination fee by July 2. The Common Entrance Test was slated to be conducted in offline mode on August 2.
Officials said candidates would be selected on the basis of their performance in the written examination and subsequent interviews. Following the declaration of final results, successful candidates would be allowed to choose their preferred training centres through an online portal.
Patil said the initiative reflected the state government's commitment to increasing opportunities for talented students preparing for one of the country's most competitive examinations. He added that the programme sought to ensure that deserving candidates from diverse backgrounds had access to professional guidance and resources required for UPSC preparation.
The department informed aspirants that detailed information regarding eligibility criteria, syllabus, application procedures and admission guidelines had been made available on the official SIAC website for reference.
