Bhubaneswar, Aug. 31: The higher education department will conduct another round of Plus Two admissions to fill up over 56,000 vacant seats.

“To apply, one has to download the common application form from www.dheorissa.in, fill it up manually and submit it at their chosen college along with all important documents and fees. Colleges, left with vacant seats, would publish a merit list on their notice boards and intimate the candidates for admissions,” said an official of the higher education department, adding that the last date for application was September 5.

The process would be open to the following categories of students — those who failed to apply online during the normal admission period, those who had applied, but could not submit the application form at Sams Resource Centre and those who failed to secure a seat or gave up their seat after being selected.

Even students, who had already taken admission, but wanted to switch over to other colleges, would be eligible, said an official of the higher education department. The admissions would be held between September 11 and 13.

Many junior colleges in the capital, including some of the better-known ones, still have a large number of seats to be filled up.

The vacancy status of Ramadevi Women’s College is 34, 27 and 40 for arts, science and commerce, respectively.

College of Basic Sciences and Humanities has 60 science seats on offer, while Maharishi College of Natural Law has 150 vacant seats in arts and 78 in science. On the other hand, BJB College and Rajdhani have very few seats to fill up.

Though 3.22 lakh students cleared the matriculation exams this year, only 2.56 lakh students confirmed their seats during the various rounds of admission – first selection, SC/ST extension seat selection and balance seat (spot) selection.

Academician R.N. Panda said while a good number of matriculates, who got third division marks, have taken enrolled for diploma or vocational courses, a large chunk of students are waiting to take admissions.

“Some others, mostly from rural areas, were deprived of admissions as they fell prey to marketing agents fielded by second-rate Plus Two colleges and self-financing institutions in cities such as Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. They had handed over their marksheets and other relevant documents to the agents beforehand and thus, could not take part in the normal admission process,” Panda added.