Special entrance exam to fill large number of vacant seats

In a breather to promoters of engineering colleges, a special joint entrance examination will be held on September 7 .

According to Odisha Private Engineering College Association (OPECA), the Apex Court on Friday directed the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination Committee to conduct the entrance examination.

The direction assumes significance as close to two-thirds of the total seats in professional colleges are lying vacant.

The OJEE will come up with an advertisement for the process on Saturday. Aspirants can register between Saturday and Monday and download the admit cards on September 2. Results will be declared two days after the test on September 9. The process of counselling for admissions will have to be completed by September 12.

As preparation for the second examination was going on, around 7000 students applied to appear in the examination. According to the Apex Court, those who had already applied for the second test need not apply again.

Professional colleges faced a situation of the worst kind this year. After the last round of admissions, around 39,000 engineering seats were lying vacant.

At present, the total intake capacity of engineering colleges in the State is 51,121 including 3517 seats of government colleges and 45,170 seats in private colleges.

Promoters of professional colleges have long been demanding relaxation in norms so that they could have greater say in the admission process.

For the last four years, the demand for pursuing a professional career including engineering course has fallen sharply.

Even the flow of students from neighbouring States like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal has come down to a great extent. Professional colleges have been incurring huge financial losses due to seats not being filled up.