10K seats in IITs, 8700 in NITs remain unfilled in 2 years

Candidates shifting to other institutes for desired branches during final rounds of counselling. 

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said over 10,000 seats across all Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and more than 8,700 seats across various National Institutes of Technology (NITs) have been vacant for the past two years. He said this while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha. 

Students leave to get admission in preferred stream  

As per a report published in The Times of India, NIT Director Warangal Ramana Rao said, “NITs that are older do not face any such problem. Sometimes students leave to get admission in a preferred stream in a local college, which leads to seats remaining vacant.” Newer institutions that are establishing themselves may be facing this problem but they should soon overcome it, he said.  

At NIT Puducherry, all seats get filled, but those who drop out for medical admissions leave certain seats vacant. “This number accounts for about 2 per cent of the total student population at the institute,” said NIT Puducherry Director Sankaranarayanasamy K. 

NIT Andhra Pradesh is one of the newer NITs, which was established in 2015-16. Admissions officer Tapas Paramanik said, “The admission trend at the institute shows that the number of undergraduate vacancies are declining concerning the infant stage and is fluctuating at around 5 per cent.” As per the data collected from the institute, in 2020-21, there were 19 vacant seats in BTech (UG), 16 in MTech (PG) and 14 in PhD courses. The number increased in 2021-22, with 34 vacant seats in BTech (UG), 32 in MTech (PG) and 25 in PhD courses. 

‘Choosing preferred engineering branch over NIT is the key issue’ 

Rao said students choosing a preferred engineering branch at a local college over an NIT seat is the issue. Agreeing, Paramanik said, “We have observed 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 not interested in that particular branch. Such candidates shift to other institutes for their desired branches during the final rounds of counselling.” 

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