Vacant seats in NITs as there are no candidates for some streams – Times of India

In reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, the Union Minister for Education, Dharmendra Pradhan has said that in the last two years, more than 10,000 seats have remained vacant in all Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), while more than 8,700 seats are vacant at various national levels. She was Institute of Technology (NIT). Teachers attribute this to a major problem in the engineering sector.

present situation


Ramana Rao, Director, NIT Warangal says, “The old NITs do not face any problem regarding vacant seats. To take admission in the preferred stream in the local college, some students sometimes drop out in the middle, leaving the seats vacant. Though this number is very less, but it may add to the problem.” New institutions, which are setting themselves up, may be facing this issue but should be able to overcome it soon, he added.

In NIT Puducherry, all seats are filled, but those who leave for medical admission leave some seats vacant. “This number is about 2% of the total student population in the institute,” says Sankaranarayanasamy, director of the institute.

Of the new NITs, NIT Andhra Pradesh was established in 2015-16. Admissions Officer, Tapas Parmanik says, “The trend of admissions in the institute shows that the number of UG vacancies with respect to infancy stage is declining and fluctuating at around 5%.” Institute data shows that in 2020-21, 19 seats were vacant in BTech (UG), 16 in MTech (PG) and 14 in PhD courses. The numbers saw a slight increase in 2021-22 with 34 vacant seats in BTech (UG), 32 in MTech (PG) and 25 in PhD courses.

disturbing reasons

Rao says there is an issue of students choosing the preferred engineering branch in the local college over the NIT seat. Agreed, Parmanik says, “We have noticed that mainly candidates who get seats in certain branches, such as metallurgical and materials engineering (MME), chemical engineering, and bio-tech, do not join because they are in that particular branch. Such candidates move to other institutes for their desired branches during the final round of counselling.

Sankaranarayanasamy says that getting medical seat is more attractive for students for which they can give up their engineering seat in NIT.

bring a change

Parmanik says that there is a need to convey to the candidates and their parents about the benefits and prospectus, including the career opportunities after studying in various emerging streams. “This is one of the major ways to motivate NITs to take admission in those branches instead of postponing their seats,” he says.