Number of vacant UG seats going up, but many students left in the lurch

Students demand fresh batches in government and aided colleges

The number of vacant seats in undergraduate courses has been going up in the University of Calicut for the past few years even though many students are unable to get admissions to the courses of their choice.

According to sources, 58,283 seats were vacant when the third allotment for admissions to the 2021-22 academic year got completed recently. In 2020, the number of such seats were 34,767. Of them, only 919 seats were in government colleges and 3,444 in aided colleges. The year before that a total of 22,836 seats were vacant. The university authorities claim that many students had left the courses after seeking admissions, and the additional seats allocated under sports quota and for Lakshadweep students remained unclaimed.

However, many students are not keen on these seats as a majority of them are not in government or aided colleges. There are many who do not even give options in unaided colleges. Students from economically weaker sections cannot afford the fee structure in these institutions.