Vacancies reach all-time high in engineering colleges

After the declaration of the final allotment by the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE), the vacancies in the engineering colleges shot up to an all-time high.

 Out of the 46,000 engineering seats available under the OJEE, the final allotment showed only 17,242 students finalising seats in the engineering colleges. After the first allotment, around 21,745 seats were allotted which was anyway far short of the total 46,000 seats. Even after that, there was a huge withdrawal that saw the allocated seat numbers dip further. Over 28,500 seats have remained vacant this year, more than the last year’s 25,000.s

 “The students are preferring to study outside or shifting to National Institute of Technologies (NITs). They no more want to stay in the State for pursuing technical education,” said an OJEE official.

 The withdrawal procedure introduced by the OJEE has made the seat allocation even more glaring with the students getting a chance to get their first installment fees back.

 The increasing number of seats across the engineering colleges and a large seat vacancy has been a huge concern for the State Government as well as the private college associations.

The State Government is trying to contain the increase in the engineering seats by asking the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) not to approve any increase in the number of seats, but the AICTE has been continually giving approvals. “

This will harm the smaller engineering colleges. Students will not opt for those colleges that will eventually result in closing down of the college,” said a senior State government official.

This year there was an increase of 4,000 seats over the existing 42,000, notwithstanding the huge vacancies.

 The decreasing number of students opting to study in the state’s engineering colleges shows the fast declining faith in the technical institutes of the

State. Strikes and delay in publication of semester results plague the technical colleges every year. This year, even the placements suffered due to delay in the final semester examinations.