BANGALORE: There could be over a lakh engineering seats available in the state this academic year, officials say, attributing it to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) generously increasing intake in many colleges.
The number of engineering seats this year, as on Thursday, is 96,870. An addition to this year’s seat matrix will be the Hyderabad-Karnataka reservation. Under this quota, there are 6,097 seats available for students from Bellary, Bidar, Gulbarga, Koppal, Raichur and Yadgir districts.
The Big Winners
The big seat gainers this time include A M C Engineering College, Bannerghatta Road, whose intake in computer science and mechanical engineering courses has been increased from 180 to 240. BMS College of Engineering, Basavanagudi, too has increased intake for the mechanical engineering course from 120 to 180.
Atria Institute of Technology has 180 seats for the computer science course, up from 120, and 120 civil engineering seats, which is double the previous strength. In addition, the institute has been granted permission to start two new MTech courses this year. “We closed telecommunications last year and started civil engineering, whose first batch is out,” said principal M S Shivakumar.
Numbers to Rise?
The AICTE is yet to announce the sanctioned intake for another 10 engineering colleges in the state.
As of now, the private sector holds the lion’s share of seats (79,988). The 10 government colleges in the state have 3,320 seats. The AICTE, a statutory body that regulates technical education, has allowed almost all the colleges to increase their intake.
The increase in the number of engineering seats comes despite the fact that over 35,000 seats remained vacant last year. “Courses like textile engineering, industrial engineering, medical electronics and mining don’t have demand. So those seats won’t have takers,” Prof Shivakumar added.
Meanwhile, private universities have finished admissions. “We are waiting for the state government to include its share of seats in the seat matrix,” said D Jawahar, pro chancellor, PES University (formerly PES Institute of Technology). The varsity has 1,080 seats of which 432 (40 per cent) are under government quota this year.