BHUBANESWAR: As many as 21,500 B.Tech seats in engineering colleges in the State remain vacant after completion of admission conducted by Odisha Joint Engineering Entrance (OJEE) committee this year.
The admission for the current academic session (2019-20) was carried out for total 34,220 seats, of which 3,960 belong to Government engineering colleges. While most seats in Government colleges have been filled up, private colleges are struggling with vacant seats. There are around 30,260 BTech seats in 88 private engineering colleges.
However, a little over 3,600 students with JEE (main) rankings have taken admission to these seats in the OJEE counselling held in July this year.Keeping the large number of vacancies in view, OJEE authorities also conducted a special OJEE test. But only 5,080 students having special OJEE ranks took admission in private colleges during the second phase counselling in August first week. In spite of two phases of admissions, more than 70 per cent seats remain vacant. Odisha Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) president Binod Dash said a clear picture on the vacant seats will emerge after the admission process ends on August 15.
Dash also said around 26,000 BTech seats had remained vacant after two phases of admission last year. However, half of these seats were filled up during college level admissions. Meanwhile, all colleges have been asked to fill up the vacant seats by August 15. OJEE Chairman SK Chand said the engineering colleges won’t be allowed to carry out admission to BTech seats that fall vacant after August 15.