Polytechnic institutions, offering diploma and certificate courses in engineering and technology appear to be on an upswing after hitting a bottom over the past two years.

Intakesin polytechnic colleges is up in the current year compared with 2015-16, says an official. In 2016-17, over 1.13 lakh students have been admitted to the 2.06 lakh seats available across 60 technical courses.

Though, here too there are areas of concern. This year, there have been zero applications in 34 institutions, including 13 hotel management institutions. As of 2015, there were over 500 polytechnic colleges in the State with three government-run and 10 government-aided and the rest self-financed.

The attraction for polytechnic courses is that ITI students who have completed their 10th standard can join here in the second year through a system of lateral entry.

This offers them better prospects professionally.

Also, both IT and manufacturing companies are increasingly recruiting polytechnic-qualified students in the place of engineering graduates wherever possible, said an official associated with a technical education.

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