Guj sees 120% rise in girls choosing engg disciplines

Time of India

4 days ago

Ahmedabad: In engineering colleges of Gujarat, a silent gender revolution is taking shape. An increasing number of girls are breaking into traditionally male-dominated specialisations like mechanical and civil engineering, while maintaining their strong presence in computer science, information technology and robotics.
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In 2022, 3,313 seats in various branches (B.E/ B.Tech) through the Admission Committee for Professional Courses (ACPC) were taken up by girls. This year the number has already reached 7,272, a brilliant 120% rise from 2022, that too when the second round of engineering intake is still on. As more rounds take place, officials expect this number to surely rise further.
Several factors are shaping these winds of change in both centralised and state admissions.
Key among them are the state's push for gender parity in STEM fields, and a big boost to girl students by premier institutions in the form of scholarships, fellowships and tuition waivers.
Dr Nilay Bhuptani, ACPC member-secretary and principal of LD College of Engineering (LDCE), said that at his college alone, the number of girl students has increased from 224 to 349 in three years, or a rise of 56%.
"The trend we are witnessing is encouraging.
While computer/ IT has remained the favoured branch for girl students, in the past few years representation has increased in other branches, from mechanical to civil as well," said Prof Rajul Gajjar, vice chancellor of Gujarat Technological University (GTU). "In robotics, for instance, girls have made a mark, and have more than 50% representation."
However, the overall share of girls taking up the total available engineering seats generally hovers around 15-20%, indicate experts.
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To boost this, several premier educational institutes have announced or implemented encouraging incentives.
Dhirubhai Ambani University (DAU) has seen a 49% rise in the number of female engineering students — from 49 in 2022 to 73 in 2024.
"This year's early trends are also encouraging," said its executive registrar, Siddharth Swaminarayan, adding that this year, DAU has announced special fellowships for girl students.
"Five fellowships have been announced wherein eligible girl students will get a 100% tuition fee waiver for all four years of study, with the fellowship's renewal subject to them maintaining a good academic performance. The fellowship will be available to the top four girls who have achieved JEE all-India rank (AIR) between 1 and 10,000, and one top girl achieving an ACPC rank between 1 and 50," he said.
Prof S Sundar Manoharan, director-general of PDEU, too called the trend encouraging.
"Admissions for the 2025-26 academic year are still on, and we have already admitted 342 girls including 283 from the all-India quota," Manoharan said. "Last year, the total number was 363, including 265 from the All-India quota. We believe we will cross this number. We have a minimum quota of 20% to ensure we have good representation of girl students in all engineering disciplines.
Besides, meritorious girl students are offered scholarships to encourage them to pursue STEM."
Prof Anup Singh, director-general of Nirma University, said the institution has observed that availability of on-campus or university-run accommodation is a major factor behind parents sending their daughters for higher studies. "There surely has been a rise in the number of girl students. This is reflected in the fact that we have nearly doubled our accommodation facilities for girl students to 1,500 this year, and aim to further increase it to 2,500 by next year to ensure that all girl students wishing to avail the facility are extended the same," he said.
At IIT Gandhinagar, the number of girls has increased from 50 in 2021 to 72 in 2025, a 44% rise, but in batch composition, their share has remained around 20%, said officials.