page_title: Maharashtra
section_title: Tertiary level
hierarchical_section_title: Maharashtra / Education and social development / Tertiary level
caption_attribution_description: Source: I made it myself; the photo is taken from my own camera and I own the copyright for this photo. Ashish Wankhade 20:57, 1 April 2006 (UTC) Ashish Wankhade.
context_page_description: Maharashtra is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. As the home of the Marathi people, Maharashtra is the second-most populous state and third-largest state by area in India. Spread over 307,713 km², it is also the world's second-most populous country subdivision. Maharashtra is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to the southeast and Chhattisgarh to the east, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to the north, and the Indian union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the northwest.
  Maharashtra was formed on 1 May 1960 by splitting the bilingual Bombay State, which had existed since 1956, into majority Marathi-speaking Maharashtra and Gujarati-speaking Gujarat, respectively. It has over 112 million inhabitants and its capital, Mumbai, has a population around 18.4 million making it the most populous urban area in India. Nagpur hosts the winter session of the state legislature. Pune is known as the 'Oxford of the East' due to the presence of several well-known educational institutions.
context_section_description: Maharashtra has 24 universities with a turnout of 160,000 Graduates every year. Maharashtra has played a pioneering role in the development of the modern education system in India. The University of Mumbai, is the largest university in the world in terms of the number of graduates and has 141 affiliated colleges.
  According to prominent national rankings, 5 to 7 Maharashtra colleges and universities are ranked among the top 20 in India. Maharashtra is also home to such notable autonomous institutes as Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Institute of Chemical Technology, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Walchand College of Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE). Most of these autonomous institutes are ranked the highest in India and have very competitive entry requirements. The University of Pune (now Savitribai Phule Pune University), the National Defence Academy, Film and Television Institute of India, Armed Forces Medical College and National Chemical Laboratory were established in Pune soon after the Indian independence in 1947. Mumbai has an IIT, has National Institute of Industrial Engineering and Nagpur has IIM and AIIMS.
  Some of the notable institutes in the state are: Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur (MNLUN), Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai (MNLUM), Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad (MNLUA), Government Law College, Mumbai (GLC), ILS Law College, and Symbiosis Law School (SLS).
  Maharashtra has hundreds of other private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions. Most of the private colleges were set up in the last thirty years after the State Government of Vasantdada Patil liberalised the Education Sector in 1982. Politicians and leaders involved in the huge cooperative movement in Maharashtra were instrumental in setting up the private institutes
  There are also local community colleges with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition.
  The state also has four agricultural universities namely Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth and Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, besides these, there are other regional universities like Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, North Maharashtra University, Shivaji University, Solapur University, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University and Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, all well established and nationally renowned, to cover the educational needs at the district levels of the state. Apart from this, there are a number of deemed universities in Maharashtra, including Symbiosis International University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and Tilak Maharashtra University.
caption: Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (Agricultural university) at Akola
exif: {}