Close to 23% of engineering seats in various government and grant-in-aid colleges in the state remained vacant even after the final round of admission. As per the data made available by the Admission Committee for Professional Courses (ACPC), of the 13,479 vacancies for various branches of engineering in government and grant-in-aid colleges of the state, a total of 3,048 seats remain vacant. Of this, the highest vacancies in terms of numbers (absolute vacant seats) is in electronic and communications while the highest in terms of percentage is in metallurgy. However, what has academicians worried is the vacancies in core engineering branches like civil, electrical, electronics and communication and mechanical. The fee in government engineering and grant in aid colleges are much less than private colleges. An official in the know said there is a growing trend among students to opt for computer science because they think it is more likely to land them a job. “Even when the seats are available in self-financed institutes, they prefer to opt of computer science in such colleges than go for core engineering courses in government colleges which is cheaper,” said the official. He said most of the colleges with vaccines are in distant and rural districts which could be another reason why students do not prefer to go there. Some of the colleges were the seats continue to remain vacant are in Modasa, Morbi, Bhuj, Bhavnagar, Godhra among others. Another official said that part of the reason could be the Mukhyamantri Yuva Swavlambhan Yojana which provides monetary help to bright students and those who cannot afford college fees. “If the student has scored more than 80% and has an annual income of less than Rs 6 lakh, 50% of their fees reimbursed up to a maximum of Rs 50,000 by the government,” said the official. With such a scheme in place, a student will opt for an SFI instead of going for a course not of his choice in a government institute, he added. A veteran closely associated with engineering admissions said that lack of interest in core engineering departments is more often a reflection of misinformation. “Students believe if they take up software they will land huge packages which is a myth. They believe that core areas of engineering won’t pay much and hence avoid them,” he said.

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