PANAJI
Almost 20 per cent of engineering degree seats has remained vacant across four private colleges in the State after the end of three rounds of admissions.
With nearly 300 seats finding no takers, the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) has decided to allow even those students who have not answered Goa Common Entrance Test (GCET) to claim for the seats during the final round of admissions to be held on September 13-14.
Of the total 300 unclaimed seats, 280 seats are available in the four private colleges while in the State-run Goa Engineering College (GCE) seats are available only for mining engineering programme.
The college otherwise has managed to fill all its 460 seats, including 60 seats for its new programme -- BE electronics in VLSI (very large scale integrated) and design technology.
Also, more than 50 per cent of engineering aspirants have opted for computer science stream while mechanical and civil engineering is the second and third choice for students.
For the academic year 2023-24, DTE had 1500 engineering seats spread across five engineering colleges- one government and four private. Last year too, 300 seats had remained vacant while before that the number of unclaimed seats was 380.
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.
A senior DTE official said that with an increase in NEET based admissions, the engineering seats remaining untouched has been an annual trend now. “Many students opt for NIT, IIT and medical based courses and that too, outside Goa,” official said.
Officer explained that the large number of vacant seats in the 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.
An official has appealed science students, who have not answered GCET or enrolled for engineering seats before, to apply for spot admission during the final round on September 13-14. “We normally relax the GCET criteria at the end of admission rounds,” official said.
