BHUBANESWAR: Across colleges __ degree or professional education __ vacancy has come to stay. Blame it on mushrooming growth of institutions or loss of interest of students in certain subjects but more and more institutions have a few seats which have no takers.Gone are the days when hoping for a seat in a top college was almost wishful thinking. Now even BJB (Autonomous) College, numero uno among the institutions in Orissa, has reported vacancies in all three subjects __ Arts, Science and Commerce __ something not heard hitherto. So has Rama Devi Women’s College, another top college of the State.According to statistics available, at least 8,000 seats have fallen vacant in degree colleges after spot admissions were completed. The junior colleges, for which admissions are still underway, may witness a similar situation.Information available with the Higher Education department shows that at least 74,968 common admission forms (CAFs) were submitted with the 162 degree colleges of the State against a sanctioned strength of 57,312. For the first selection, the department sent out 48,019 intimation letters against which just about 37,114 candidates took admission.Similarly, for the second selection, as many as 10,754 intimation letters were sent but 6,805 candidates took admission. Another 4,358 students got themselves enrolled through spot admissions. By the time spot admissions were over, 48,817 students took admission in degree courses leaving about 8,495 seats vacant.This problem of vacancies is not faced by the degree colleges alone. The state of affairs in the professional institutions is no better. With choice-locking for most branches almost complete __ barring pharmacy __ the picture that has emerged is gloomy for the private engineering colleges.For the 37,000-odd seats which were on offer, just about 21,000 candidates have locked their choices which means over 15,000 seats may not have any takers.According to vice-chairman of JEE Committee Sitaram Mohapatra, a little more than 29,000 candidates had registered for the web-based counselling whereas 26,000-odd turned up for mock counselling at the nodal centres. When the time for choice-locking came, about 21,000 came on board.There could be several reasons. “The candidates may have been unhappy with the choice of colleges or subjects they have got or the reason could be with the process of counselling which many find confusing,” points out Binod Dash, honorary secretary of Orissa Private Engineering Colleges Association.While some attribute employability to be the reason behind waning interest in engineering courses, others say Orissa has far too many colleges against the actual demand. For the Plus-Two Colleges, the picture will be clear once the admission process is over. Against a sanctioned strength of 3,07,766 seats, the latest figure for first selection admission stands at 1,02,433.
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