JOIN USRecord number of engineering seats remain vacant in Karnataka this year
Amid the growing clamour for technical education at the national level, Karnataka has seen a whopping 23,000 engineering seats remaining vacant during this academic year. The number of students eligible for admission to engineering is not only higher this year since the government decided to promote all students, but is likely to shoot up with the commencement of UG-NEET counselling as many medical aspirants would give up engineering seats and switch to medical education.
The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has conducted three rounds of counselling this year to fill up engineering seats. However, after the completion of two official rounds, the state government sought permission from the Supreme Court to extend the last date for engineering admissions and held a second extended round (third round) of counselling till December 31, 2021, to fill up the vacant seats. Despite best efforts by the state government, 23,001 engineering seats are still vacant.
According to the data accessed by DH from the KEA, the number of engineering seats going vacant is the highest in the last five years. Officials in the Higher Education department revealed to DH that the number is expected to cross the 30,000 mark after the completion of UG-NEET counselling.
“Around 30,000 students have registered for UG-NEET counselling of whom at least 25,000 have held on to engineering seats. If all these students get a medical, dental or any other course, those seats will again remain unfilled,” said an official. A total of 64,484 seats were made available this year of which 48,027 seats were chosen.
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