Only 12,500 students have made registration for admission into BTech courses in the Government and private engineering courses for the 2018-19 academic session in the State.
Out of them, 11,400 candidates have participated in the choice-locking process. The number showed a decline of interest among the students for admission into engineering courses in Odisha.
Admission is to be held for as many as 42,784 seats at eight Government and 83 private engineering colleges this year.
After completion of the registration process, most of the engineering seats are expected to remain vacant.
last year, 13,600 students had registered their name for admission into engineering courses and around 12,000 candidates had participated in the choice-locking process. A total of 8,152 seats were filled up after the admission held in two phases in the 2017-18 academic session.
While 670 seats were vacant in the State-run engineering colleges, only 4,600 seats out of 39,000 seats in 83 private engineering colleges were filled up last year.
The authorities think that the situation is going to be worset this year as compared to last year.
While the eight Government colleges have 4,086 seats, there are 38,698 seats in the 83 private colleges. With the decline of number of student registration, the private engineering colleges are likely to be affected more than the Government colleges as most of the students would prefer to be enrolled into the courses in Government colleges.
However, the Odisha Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) expected more student enrolment this year compared to the previous year.
The students had less time for registering name during the OJEE counselling. More number of students would make enrolment into the courses after the second OJEE, said OPECA secretary Binod Dash.
He criticised the Government’s decision for the process of admission.
After release of mock list for first phase admission, the students would show greater interest for enrolment in the Government engineering colleges instead of private colleges, he said.