After 3 rounds of counselling, only 20 percent engineering seats filled so far in TN

A senior official from the directorate, which is conducting the counselling process this year, said only 34,740 seats were allotted at the end of the third round. In all, there are 1,72,940 engineering seats available in more than 500 colleges in the State.

In the third round of counselling, about 40,000 students participated. Earlier, 9,500 appeared for the first round, while there were about 20,000 in the second, taking the total number of participants to only 70,000, much less than even the halfway mark when compared to the seats available.

With only 34,740 seats allotted at the end of third round, there are more than 1.38 lakhs seats that are still vacant. The official added that the directorate expected about 40,000 engineering aspirants to appear for the fourth and final round of counselling, but added that there could still be more than a lakh seats vacant this academic year.

The students have made clear their preference for government and government aided college, where more than 90 per cent of the seats have been filled. In the case of Anna University and its constituent colleges, about 70% engineering seats have been filled, while it is 50 per cent at Annamalai University.

However, hundreds of self-financing colleges across the State are staring at an uncertain future. “Only 25 per cent of seats were filled in self-financing engineering colleges,” the official said.

The DoTE official added that seat allotment for the final round of counselling, which began on Monday, would be announced on July 28.