The curious case of vacant engineering seats in Karnataka

Rising engineering seats in Karnataka lead to increasing vacancies, high fees, and declining demand for certain courses.

If you ask any student interested in pursuing a professional course, engineering and medicine still dominate the list of preferences. Every year, the number of engineering colleges, available seats, and students qualifying for engineering courses through the Common Entrance Test (CET), conducted by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), COMED-K UGET, and other entrance exams continues to rise. Yet, paradoxically, the number of engineering seats left unallocated after the counselling process is also increasing annually.

The CET-2024 and COMED-K counselling processes were recently completed, leaving a total of 32,379 engineering and architecture seats vacant. Out of 79,907 government quota seats available through KEA, 13,653 engineering seats remained unfilled. In the COMED-K category, 18,726 seats out of 26,373 were left vacant.

Of the total engineering seats available in the State, 45% of the government quota seats are filled through the CET, 30% through COMED-K, and 25% through the management and Non-Resident Indian quotas.

This year, 1,06,280 seats were available across more than 245 government, aided, and private engineering colleges in the State, but only 73,901 seats were filled, leaving 32,379 seats vacant. A total of 2,74,595 students qualified for admission to engineering courses through CET-2024, while 1,03,799 students qualified through COMED-K.

This trend is not new. In 2021, as many as 90,823 engineering seats were available in Karnataka. Of the 1.93 lakh students who appeared for the CET and 66,304 students appeared for COMED-K, a total of 2,49,304 students were qualified for engineering courses. However, only 60,570 seats were filled, leaving 30,253 vacant. Similarly, in 2022, 92,882 seats were available, but only 69,946 were filled, with 22,936 seats remaining vacant, despite 2,29,043 students qualifying for engineering courses through CET and COMED-K.

In 2023, out of 1,00,351 seats available, 82,122 were filled, while 18,229 remained vacant, even though 2,80,614 students qualified for these seats.

More than 150 engineering colleges in Karnataka fill private and NRI quota seats through COMED-K UGET. This year, 26,373 COMED-K seats were available, but only 7,647 were filled, leaving 18,726 vacant. In 33 engineering colleges, no COMED-K seats were allotted. In fact, 80% of the seats were filled in just six engineering colleges, while 50% to 80% were filled in 19 colleges. In 20 colleges, only 25% to 50% of the seats were filled, and in 75 colleges, less than 25% of seats were taken.