Mumbai: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as one of the most sought-after engineering education disciplines in Maharashtra, with higher demand than the more established mechanical, civil and electrical branches of engineering.
The admission data for 2023-24 shows that the combined enrolment of various BE/BTech programmes offering specialisation in AI and its allied areas of research such as Machine Learning and Data Science is more than the courses in the three ‘core’ engineering branches. The data, shared by the state Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell, also shows around 19% growth in admission to AI-related courses compared to 2022-23.
Admission data
Despite being introduced only a few years ago, the AI courses recorded a combined enrolment of over 12,300, up from last year’s 10,300 admissions. By comparison, the number of students admitted to mechanical, electrical and civil branches was around 12,300, 7,774 and 7,207, respectively.
There also appears a stark divide between the core and ‘circuit’ branches of computer science, information technology and electronics and communication, with as many as half the seats in the former streams lying vacant, while most of the spots for other disciplines filled at the end of the admission process.
Data reveals that civil engineering had the highest number of vacancies as only 39% of 18,375 sanctioned seats were taken. The status of mechanical and electrical engineering programmes was only slightly better with 50% and 69% admissions, respectively. By comparison, more than 95% of seats in computer and IT-related courses and around 90% of electronics and communication seats were filled in this admission cycle.
Computer science courses continue to draw the most engineering aspirants in the state, with more than 40,000 out of 1.18 lakh one-third of the students admitted to undergraduate engineering programmes opting for them. The overall enrolment to BE/BTech programmes has also increased from last year’s 1.09 lakh.
