IITS take a back seat? 118 vacancies after 7 rounds

None in soughtafter Iitbombay; women candidates rise

MUMBAI: Despite several attempts to reduce the number of vacant seats, there are no takers for 118 seats at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITS) at the end of the seventh round.

While 11,279 seats were originally sanctioned for the 23 IITS, another 800 extra or supernumerary seats were added for women candidates, bringing the total intake capacity to 12,079. Only 11,961 candidates confirmed their admission. “The supernumerary seats were created to accommodate more women students. We are yet to determine whether the vacant seats are from the open category or supernumerary seats,” said an official from the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JOSAA).

The number of vacant seats in 2017 was 121, compared to 96 in 2016. The human resources development (HRD) ministry had then asked IITS to consider various options, including the option of scrapping unpopular courses, to address the situation. The number of vacant seats in 2015 was 50, and three in 2014.

This is the first year when all institutes kept aside 14% (800) extra or supernumerary seats for women students, in accord-

ance with the HRD ministry’s plan to ensure gender balance in all institutes.

Supernumerary seats are created in cases where the number of candidates is more than the available seats.

“Most IITS have witnessed a noticeable increase in the number of women candidates joining the campus this year. It is a welcome

trend. IITS are yet to respond to us with the bifurcation of seat vacancy,” said the official.

The Joint Admission Board initially planned to increase the intake capacity of IITS by almost 1,000 seats in 2018, but the final increase in seats was within 200 across all 23 IITS.

The vacancies in IITS in

Mumbai, Delhi and Kharagpur stood at one, three and nine, respectively in 2017. However, this year, Iit-bombay has no vacancy.

“We admitted more students than the official capacity taking the possible cancellations into account. This ensured there is no vacancy,” said Devang Khakhar, director, IIT-B.