29,000 engineering seats remain vacant in Karnataka

The trend of engineering seats remaining vacant has continued this year too in the State. Over 29,000 engineering seats, of the total 77,500, are vacant. In other words, 37% of the engineering seats in private, government and aided colleges, bagged by students through the Common Entrance Test or the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) route have gone unfilled. These figures do not include management quota seats in private colleges. Of the 62,000 government and government-quota seats allotted through the CET, nearly 19,000 are vacant, while over 10,000, of the total 15,500 seats allotted through the COMEDK route, are vacant. Last year too a similar number of seats went vacant. ‘Losing its charm’ K. Rajinikanth, former principal, MSRIT, attributed the vacancies to the fact that engineering was slowly losing its charm. In his opinion, placements even in good colleges were not up to the mark. Demand is likely to reduce further in the coming years, he said, and pointed out to the fact that currently supply outstrips demand. “Several colleges with low intake would have a challenge even running the colleges.” ‘National phenomenon’ K. Mallikarjun Babu, principal of BMS College of Engineering, however, said engineering colleges were facing a problem after the advent of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) as many students tend to give up their engineering seats after getting through medical and dental admissions. “Vacant seats in engineering colleges have become a national phenomenon; there is a need for different stakeholders to analyse this process,” said Mr. Babu. M.R. Jayaram, chairman of the Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation, said there was a need for the government to come up with a policy decision to protect the interests of college managements.