PANJIM: At the end of the first round of admissions for engineering degree seats, nearly 10 per cent seats have remained vacant, mainly in private colleges in Goa. The vacancies are expected to rise further as the admission process to NITs and IITs still in progress while NEET based admissions are yet to take place.
The next round of admissions to engineering seats will only take place after the Director General of Health Services announces dates for medical seats, which is expected after July 15.
For the academic year 2023-24, around 150 seats of the total 1,500 spread across five engineering colleges- one government and four privates- have remained vacant at the end of first round of admissions on June 28.
“Almost all the seats of the Goa Engineering College are taken. But 150 seats in the private institutes have remained vacant after first round. Currently, the admissions for NIT, IIT are ongoing and also NEET based admissions are yet to start. Many students, aspiring for NIT, IIT and medical have taken admissions in engineering for now as a back-up. But once their seats get confirmed many will leave and hence the vacancies will go up,” a senior official at the Directorate of Technical Education confirmed.
The private colleges include- Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Verna, Don Bosco College of Engineering, Fatorda, Rayeshwar Institute of Engineering and Information Technology (RIEIT) Shiroda and Agnel Institute of Technology and Design, Assagao.
Officer explained that the large number of vacant seats in last two-three years is mainly because of the quota for economically weaker sections (EWS) introduced in 2019, wherein the State government asked colleges to increase the seats by 25 per cent.
