PANAJI
Goa's engineering colleges are not merely battling vacant seats but a fundamental shift in students' career preferences, with education officials attributing the persistent admission crisis to the growing popularity of NEET-based courses, a steady decline in Class XII mathematics students, limited employment prospects in engineering and the rise of private universities offering newer academic options.
The changing trend has once again left private engineering colleges struggling to fill their classrooms. After the first round of admissions this year, around 475 engineering seats remain vacant, with officials expecting the number to rise further once NEET results are declared and admissions to medical and allied health courses gather pace. Although the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) has relaxed the mandatory JEE-Main requirement for the third consecutive year, officials expect the move to add only another 50 to 100 students to engineering programmes.
According to senior DTE officials, students today are increasingly choosing NEET-based professional courses such as medicine, pharmacy, physiotherapy and Ayurveda, largely because of better employment prospects.
"Admissions to Goa Medical College are always full. Pharmacy colleges too witness tremendous demand because students see better career opportunities in the sector," a senior official said.
The official pointed out that Goa's pharmacy education landscape has expanded rapidly over the years. "Earlier, Goa had only two pharmacy colleges, including one government institution. Today there are six colleges. The intake capacity has increased from around 400 seats to nearly 800, and these seats are almost always filled. Physiotherapy is another course witnessing growing demand," the official said.
In contrast, engineering has lost much of its appeal among students.
"There is almost complete stagnation in employment opportunities for engineering graduates. The sector has become saturated, and students are aware of it while making career choices," the official said.
Adding to the challenge is a shrinking pool of eligible students. DTE officials said feedback received from the Goa Board indicates that the number of students opting for mathematics in Class XII has been steadily declining.
"The number of students taking mathematics has dropped by nearly 20 to 25 per cent over the years. Since mathematics is a mandatory subject for engineering admissions, the eligible pool itself is becoming smaller," the official said.
Officials also pointed to the emergence of private universities as another factor reshaping higher education choices in Goa. With four private universities now functioning in the State, students have access to a wider range of specialised and interdisciplinary programmes that were previously unavailable locally.
"Private universities are offering several new-age courses that students earlier had to leave Goa to pursue. Naturally, many are opting for these programmes instead of conventional engineering degrees," the official said.
Education officials believe that these multiple factors, rather than admission eligibility norms alone, explain why engineering admissions have remained largely stagnant over the past several years, with hundreds of seats continuing to remain vacant despite repeated relaxations in admission criteria.
