MUMBAI, July 17 -- To simplify the admission process for professional courses, the Admission Regulatory Authority (ARA) of Maharashtra has, for the first time, opened its portal directly to students. This will ease the burden of document verification and reduce errors that often derail admissions to engineering, medicine, pharmacy, MBA courses, and 17 other technical and professional programs. The website is in final testing mode and will go live very soon, said sources from the higher and technical education department. The ARA is responsible for verifying documents submitted by colleges on behalf of students and approving their admissions accordingly. Until last year, only colleges had access to the ARA portal as they were solely responsible for uploading students' documents. This system resulted in frequent delays and errors. The ARA recently took note of this issue and proactively contacted the affected students. As of September 2024, out of 965 pending admission-related cases, 625 were resolved, and 340 were still under review. "Students who have taken admission through the centralised process, which was conducted by the State Common Entrance Examination Cell, can track if their documents have been received and approved by the ARA. They will also be able to see if there are any deficiencies in their paperwork," said a senior official from the department.Niraj Pandit...