Across India, nearly two-thirds of MTech seats are unfilled, whereas B.Tech enrollment has been recovering for the past decade.
Many reputed public institutes are not filling up their B.Tech and M.Tech courses, and experts believe this is due to them being unable to keep up with the bookings for less popular courses. This is a major concern for the IITs and NITs. In accordance with RTI, the telegraph received certain information about the number of vacant places this year for 13 IIT and 276 B.TECH, as well as 1165 places in the M.TECH and M.SC programs.
Vacancy rates vary across IITs. For example, at IIT Dhanbad, which has 1,125 BTech seats, 72 seats are vacant for 2024. Of the 234 unfilled graduate programs, there were 67 and 53 vacancies for the 2023-2024 and 2022-2023 academic years, respectively.
This year’s BTECH has also observed IIT GUWAHATI an increase in a total of 37 vacant places.
M.TECH CAREER: THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE
The situation at the M.Tech level is particularly alarming, even at the oldest and most elite IITs. IIT Bombay, for example, had 332 PGT vacancies for 2022-23, 345 for 2023-24, and 257 for 2024-25. Fellow premier Indian Institute of Technology Delhi reported 416 vacancies for 2024-25, down from 438 and 376 in the previous two years. IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi have around 800 M.Tech seats each.
THE ROLE OF DROPOUTS AND FEES FOR ALLOCATED SEATS
Another factor contributing to unfilled seats is student dropout during the M.Tech programmes. Due to the lack of centralised counselling for M.Tech programmes, students are able to choose courses that fit their preferences. However, this may lead to an increase in dropout rates.
Similar to NITs, IITs impose a seat allocation fee (SAF) prior to counseling in order to deter frivolous admissions. However, this practice is controversial due to cases like a legal dispute involving a Dalit student at IIT Dhanbad who failed to settle with the SAF in time.
Some have suggested eliminating the fee altogether, based on the assumption that it creates unnecessary barriers for students trying to secure seats in the institution. On the other hand, the government claims that this fee contributes to a reduction in dropouts and improves management of vacant seats. Nevertheless, it is proposed that data concerning vacancies indicates the fee is not fulfilling its intended function.
Given the reduced seat per enrolment ratios, it is crucial for educational institutions to assist in re-assessing their offered courses to better align with demand. Offering the appropriate courses that correspond with the expanding job market can reduce the resource wastage commonly seen in IITs and NITs.
By streamlining the admissions process, it would surely be possible to address the large number of unoccupied seats while still allowing students to benefit from attending a highly respected institution.
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