No takers for nearly 20,000 engg seats in Karnataka

BANGALORE: Has supply outstripped demand in engineering education? Or have students have become picky when selecting a college? Nearly 20,000 seats have gone abegging this year, leaving empty classrooms across 187 colleges in Karnataka.

The speed at which engineering colleges were opened in the state has not kept pace with demand for BE courses. This year, only six colleges - all in Bangalore - have filled up all their seats. The number of vacant seats filled through Common Entrance Test conducted by the Karnataka Examinations Authority has shot up from 3,925 in 2009 to 8,067 this year. According to the Department of Technical Education, the total number of vacant seats is 19,652 for 2010-11.

"Except for a few reputed colleges in Bangalore, there's hardly any demand for seats in rural colleges. Despite opposition from several quarters, the government gave its approval for nine private colleges this year. The admission in the majority of colleges has been pathetic," Panduranga Shetty, vice-president, Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association, told STOI.

VSM Institute of Technology, Nippani, which opened this year, managed to fill only 18 of 300 sanctioned seats. At the Chikkaballapur-based Achutha Institute of Technology, only 50 of 300 seats were taken.

M S Shivakumar, principal, Atria Institute of Technology, Bangalore says the fall in demand for branches like information science, civil engineering, silk and textile technology has added to the demand-supply mismatch. "The market demand has a direct impact on students' choice. Civil engineering, for example, has very few takers this year. The number of vacant seats in information science, and electrical and electronics is also high," he said.

At Bangalore's Alpha College of Engineering, 50% of computer science seats are vacant. At PNS Institute of Technology for Women, admission to some courses has been in single digits.

neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, which account for more than half of the total engineering seats in the country, are also facing a grim future. In Maharashtra, nearly 22,000 engineering seats across 311 colleges were vacant and Andhra Pradesh has 43,000 vacant seats this year.

EMPTY CLASSROOMS

* In 2008, only 2,266 engineering seats were not filled through CET

* In 2010, vacant seats have gone up to 8,067

* Comed-K has 17,552 BE seats but total admission is 6,842

* Almost all seats in five evening engineering colleges have been taken this year

toiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com

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