Bengaluru: Just like in previous years, this year too private engineering colleges of the state have failed to find many takers for their seats. According to sources in the state higher education department, this year around 20,000 engineering seats have remained unfilled after the completion of the counseling.
According to the data, under the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) all India quota category, 16,363 seats were available for selection. But out of them 9,915 seats have remained unfilled. Under government quota, 8,700 seats remained vacant. Around 200 BDS seats were also went unfilled. Both the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) and COMEDK were able to occupy MBBS seats in full.
According to sources, on September 30, the last day of medical admissions, several elite colleges in the city lost around 300 students as KEA and COMEDK filled up the remaining MBBS seats. "Unfilled seats cost engineering colleges around Rs. 20 crores annually for the next 4 years," said a senior officer.
Lower fee structure: As per the COMEDK sources, the consensual agreement signed between the state government and private engineering colleges, Rs 1,70,000 was fixed for each seat in the private engineering colleges. “Some colleges brought down the fee structure to Rs 60,000 per year to ensure that more students would join the course. But the poor demand continued,” officials said.
Poor demand: According to the officials, unfilled engineering seats are a big problem in the state for the last few years. "Every year around 60,000 students clear +2 classes in Karnataka. But the number of seats available in the state are around 1 lakh," said a senior officer.
"It was the students from north India who ensured that at least a few hundred seats in the state colleges would get filled. But with tens of new engineering colleges coming up in the northern states, the situation is expected to become more serious in the coming years," he signed off.
