Bhubaneswar, July 11: Degree colleges in the capital were buzzing with activity as the second round of admissions for various Plus Three courses began today. Around 10,754 candidates were shortlisted as per the second selection merit list published on July 6.

Students queued up at the degree colleges in the capital. They were seen waiting eagerly for their names to be called out for verification of documents, payment of admission fees and completion of other formalities. The total number of sanctioned seats in the 162 degree colleges of the state is 57,312. Out of the 48,019 applicants, who were intimated for the first round of admission, only 37,114 students turned up at their preferred colleges between June 29 and July 1.

The second selection process would get over by July 12. After that, admission of students belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe for “extension” seats would be held on July 20.

Balance seats would be filled up through spot admission on July 25. The list for this would be published on July 22 and the registration would start the next day at 2pm.

Aspirants can check their names on the merit list for spot admission in college notice boards.

Classes for the first year students in all degree colleges would commence from July 27. Last year, only 53 degree colleges had been included for the Plus Three e-admission process.

Today was also the last day for submission of the common application forms (CAF)s for Plus Two admission. While 3,53,800 students had applied online, only 2,64,955 submitted the CAFs at the 377 Students Academic Management System (Sams) resource centres across the state.

If a candidate fails to submit his/her form at the Sams resource centre, then it would be considered invalid and he/she would not be considered for admission.

There are around 1,282 junior colleges including 200 self-financing institutions. There are around 28 colleges conducting offline admission.

However, since the total number of seats in junior colleges is 3,05,356, over 40,000 seats would go vacant. “There are vacancies every year. This time 2.9lakh students cleared the state board matriculation out of which over 2.6lakh students have applied to us. The applicants include around 4,000 to 5,000 pass-outs from CBSE and ICSE schools,” said secretary of department of higher education (DHE), Chandra Shekhar Kumar.

He added last year, the DHE had received 2.4lakh application forms.