Women's education will get a leg-up in the Union Territory (UT) as it gets its first engineering college for women. The existing Women's Polytechnic College in Lawspet, Puducherry, has been upgraded to an engineering college.

According to a government notification, the college will have BTech courses in Architectural Assistantship, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Communication, and Electrical and Electronics Engineering with an intake of 60 students each. It will also have BCom, wth the same intake. Admissions for the academic year 2022-23 would begin through CENTAC (Centralised Admission Committee). This is the third engineering college for the UT.

The government decided to upgrade the polytechnic college after the number of students steadily dropped. Only 50 students took admission in the last academic year, which has a total intake of 190. In total, only around 200 students are studying in the college, when the number should have been 570.

Minister for Education A Namassivayam, during the last budget session, announced the new college.

Its infrastructure was upgraded under Conversion of Polytechnics into Engineering Colleges, a scheme by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), with Rs 2 crore provided by the Central government. With around 90 per cent of the faculty having qualified as per AICTE norms, the government approached it for approval.

After four rounds of inspection, AICTE issued orders approving the upgrade on July 10. It would be affiliated with Puducherry Technical University. BCom alone will be affiliated with the Pondicherry University, said an official.

Girls will still have the opportunity to study diploma courses in the adjoining Motilal Nehru Government Polytechnic (MNGP) College, a co-ed institution. MNGP only admitted 251 students last year, while the intake should have been 400. This way there will be better utilisation of resources and duplication of fund utilisation will be reduced, said an official.