20,000 engineering seats are likely to go vacant this academic year

Even after relaxing the admission criteria, around 20,000 engineering seats are likely to go vacant this academic year. The authorities however feel this is an advantage for students who want to secure direct admission for second year engineering after completing their diplomas. 'While colleges will have vacant seats in the first year, these seats will be filled in the second year,said a senior official.The total intake capacity for engineering courses is 1,34,144, whereas total applications received by Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) are around 1,10,000. According to a DTE senior official:Even after considering admissions under management and minority quota, and the applications received for the online admissions, there are chances that even this year; there will be vacancies in the first year of engineering.

According to sources, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) may approve increasing the number of seats. While colleges, considering the second year formula, keep applying for more intake; some have to be approved by AICTE and others by the court. But there are likely to be approval for more engineering seats for this as well as the next academic year, said an official.He added:This extra intake of seats may give an impression of a large number of vacancies in the first year. However, considering lakhs of students from diploma courses seeking admission to engineering, these vacant seats are an advantage. Colleges are ready to bear the loss for they know that in the second year, they can have more seats to offer to diploma students. Hence there are continuous applications for approvals of extra intake.

For diploma holders, admissions are done directly in the second year. For these students, admissions depend on the number of vacant seats in the second year that include original vacant seats and seats left vacant after students' drop out.While the fourth round for admission to engineering course is currently in process, according to information provided by DTE, 76, 557 candidates have already been allotted seats and there is vacancy of over 30,000 seats available for further admissions.