Odisha colleges face draught of students

Odisha, especially Bhubaneshwar, has of late become the hub of engineering studies in the country. However, this has also led to the sudden mushrooming of private engineering colleges in the state. While this has helped many realise their dreams of higher studies, it has also resulted in a huge number of the seats remaining vacant.

Last year, a whopping 24,000 seats in engineering colleges lay vacant. In fact, quite a few were on the verge of closing down due to non availability of students. “The faulty policy of admission adopted by the Biju Patnaik University of Technology and the terrible counselling process adopted last year has left a huge number of vacant seats. Furthermore, delay in conducting examinations, declaration of results, issuing certificates etc have made the situation worse here for students,” says Vinod Das, Secretary of Odisha Private Engineering Colleges Association (OPECA).

However, things might be taking a turn for the better this year with the increased number of applications for the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE). The number of final applicants for OJEE scheduled for May 6 this year is 99,836, a jump of nearly 16,000 over last year’s 84,000.

The number of aspirants for engineering courses has also gone up to 68,000 this year while for medical course it is 31,500. Last year the figures were 52,000 and 24,000 respectively. The state has around 40,000 engineering seats in 110 technical institution and 620 medical seats. OJEE will have 155 examination centres in the state, 10 more compared to last years 145, besides 31 centres out side the state. Sitaram Mahapatra, OJEE Vice Chairman said this was a record number of applications and was hopeful that this year, the vacancies will be filled.