File picture of students entering an OJEE centre

Bhubaneswar, July 23: Almost 75 per cent of the engineering seats in the state remained vacant this year. Only 11,838 students have locked their choices after the first phase of counselling ended here on Tuesday.

A total of 48,687 seats are available in 10 government and 101 private engineering colleges in the state, of which, 36,849 seats are likely to fall vacant this year. The number may reduce after final allotment of seats on July 31 and authorities will go for the second round of counselling in the first week of August.

“Lack of interest to pursue engineering courses is mainly because of job availability in the market. The job crunch is a major factor. Students, who are coming forward, seem to be more interested in core engineering subjects such as mechanical, civil, electrical and electronics,” said a private engineering college teacher, adding that a clear picture would emerge after the second round of counselling. Last year, nearly 25,000 seats remained vacant.

Head of the computer science department of the government-run Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology at Sarang, S.N. Mishra, said: “The seats are not falling vacant in the government-run colleges despite the increase in seats in these institutes. The problem pertains to most of the private colleges because of poor quality of teaching. Students do not want jobs that offer anything ranging between Rs 4,000 and Rs 12,000 (normally offered to freshers) when they have better options in the market.”

“Students who have locked their choices will be allotted seats on July 24 after which they will have to report to the concerned college authorities for admission. They can withdraw from the admission process if they are not allotted the colleges and subjects of their choice,” said OJEE secretary Priyabrata Sahoo.

Worried at the prospect of having so many seats falling vacant, members of the Odisha Private Engineering College Association met technical education minister Sunjay Dasburma and appraised him of the situation. The association urged him to go for a second counselling for the vacant seats that would be held in the first week of August.

The second counselling process will be over by August 15. The association secretary Binod Das alleged that many students had been debarred from counselling due to faults in the rank card.

Das said there was a confusion among students about the counselling. Many were confused if it was meant for students who were not eligible for admission to the IITs and NITs or for all the candidates. The association demanded that all vacant seats should be handed over the colleges after the second counselling. They also demanded for permission to fill up 10 per cent of seats through college-level counselling. The state government, in its effort to control the situation has denied permission of any new engineering colleges in the state. No engineering colleges or seats have been added or deducted this year, Sahoo said.