IITs 10K Seats and NITs 8700 Remain Unfilled in 2 years; Check Details Here

New Delhi: IITs over 10,000 seats and NITs more than 8,700 seats have been vacant for the previous two years, according to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He stated this in response to a query in the Rajya Sabha.

In 2020-21, 5,484 seats in IITs remained empty, according to the data. There were 476 seats available in undergraduate (BTech) programmes, 3,229 seats available in postgraduate courses, and 1,779 seats available in PhD courses.

The number of empty seats at IITs in 2021-22 was 5,296, a modest decrease from the previous year. 361 places in BTech courses, 3,083 seats in postgraduate programmes, and 1,852 seats in PhD courses remained unfilled.

NIT Warangal Director 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 added.

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% of the total student population at the institute,” said NIT Puducherry Director Sankaranarayanasamy K. 

NIT Andhra Pradesh is one of the most recent NITs, having been founded in 2015-16. Tapas Paramanik, admissions officer 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. 

The issue, according to NIT Warangal Director Ramana Rao, is students picking the desired engineering stream at a local institution over an NIT seat. 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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