Ahmedabad: Replicating the success of earlier years, 144 students of the Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA) have cleared the Prelims examination 2016 held by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on August 7. The number is higher than last year. This year, among those successful, 16 are girls, 72 from general category and 24, 13, 24 from SC, ST and SEBC category respectively.

In 2015, there were 1,129 vacancies in the civil services wherein 137 candidates of SPIPA cleared the prelims exam. In 2016, the seats to be filled are comparatively lower at 1,079. The Mains exams are scheduled to be held on December 3, 2016.

The number of students passing out from SPIPA have been higher with each passing year, reflecting the benefits derived out of the course structure designed by the institute, expert faculty available, practical training and rigorous mock tests conducted.

“We are proud of the achievement of our students. This is the first step taken to enter the corridors of power and let Gujarat shine in the administrative services. SPIPA has been a gamechanger in administrative studies and training and with a relevant course structure and in-depth training we are churning out steady rates of success,” said Smt. Anita Karwal (IAS), Director General, SPIPA.

UPSC conducts civil services examination for recruitment in 24 services. These include IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS among others.

Systematic lecture series by eminent faculty from Gujarat and India have been a consistent feature at SPIPA in accordance with the changed pattern of CSAT in 2015.

SPIPA also has a facility of a 24*7 AC reading room to benefit students. Lecture video recording, power-points and study material are provided to students in the electronic format. It’s state- of- the art library has over 70,000 books, 1.3 lakh e-books and over 600 journals along with an e-library facility.