Odisha Engineering Colleges Left With 37,000 Vacant BTech Seats

26 Aug 2026, 13:21 by Vinay Kakkad · KalingaTV

Odisha’s engineering education system is facing a sharp divide in student demand, with government institutions recording near-full enrolment while private colleges have been left with nearly four out of every five BTech seats vacant after three rounds of admission.

As reported by The New Indian Express, against about 53,000 BTech seats offered across government and private engineering colleges and technical institutions for the 2026-27 academic session, only around 15,000 students have secured admission following an admission and counselling exercise that lasted nearly two months.

The OJEE committee has consequently released the unfilled seats to the respective colleges and technical institutions, allowing them to admit students directly at their level.

The vacancy is particularly severe in the private sector. Of the 47,000 BTech seats available in private engineering and technical institutions, around 36,900 remain vacant — a vacancy rate of about 78.5 per cent.

The situation is markedly different in government institutions. They account for around 6,000 of the total BTech seats, and more than 99 per cent of these were filled during the counselling process. Only around 100 seats or fewer remained vacant, largely in the Economically Weaker Sections category.

The numbers point to a demand problem that is concentrated overwhelmingly in private engineering institutions rather than across the state’s entire technical education system.

Private colleges had already been dealing with vacancy levels ranging between 60 and 70 per cent until last year. The situation has worsened this academic year, when Odisha added another 5,000 BTech seats to the existing pool.

That expansion followed approval for the opening of 10 new technical institutions.

At the same time, student preferences appear to be increasingly concentrated around specialised technology programmes. OJEE sources said Computer Science and newer courses such as Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and Robotics continued to attract greater interest than traditional engineering streams, including Civil and Electrical Engineering.

The OJEE committee has now placed the vacant seats back with individual institutions so that they can pursue admissions independently. Officials said the gap has already narrowed following this step.

There is also more time for colleges to try to convert vacant seats into admissions. The BTech admission deadline has been extended from August 14 to September 14 under the revised academic calendar issued by the All India Council for Technical Education.

OJEE officials expect the extended window to bring in additional enrolments and further reduce the number of vacant seats.

Separately, the state Higher Education department has altered the schedule for Phase-I postgraduate admissions in public universities and colleges for the 2026-27 academic session.

The revision has been made against the backdrop of the prevailing flood situation, which has created difficulties for students and educational institutions in affected areas.

Under the revised schedule, the third round of Phase-I admissions, including waiting-list and spot selection, will be held from August 28 to September 5.

The entire Phase-II admission process is scheduled to conclude by September 8.