Unfilled BTech and MTech courses are rampant in some of the esteemed public institutions, which experts attribute to an inability to keep up with less sought-after course intake. Issues like these are highly concerning for the IITs and NITs institutes.

Under RTI, The Telegraph has obtained certain information about the number of vacant seats this year for the 13 IITs and 276 BTech, and 1165 seats in MTech and MSc programmes went unfilled.

This has led to an increased degree of unfilled seats in the NITs too, including 401 unfilled seats in BTech and 2604 degrees in MTech & MSc spread across the 19 NITs.

Different IITs have diverse rates of vacancy. For example, in IIT Dhanbad, which has 1,125 BTech seats, they reported 72 unfilled seats for 2024. In the 234 unfilled postgraduate programs, the year for 2023-2024 and the year for 2022-23 had 67 and 53 vacancies respectively.

In BTech this year, IIT Guwahati has also seen an increase in vacant seats with a total of 37. Other IITs have not yet presented or disclosed their vacancy numbers.

CAREER IN MTECH: A MORE MEANINGFUL PROBLEM

The MTech level positions are especially alarming, even in the older and elite IITs. For example, IIT Bombay had 332 PGT seats vacant in 2022-23, 345 in 2023-23, and 257 in 2024-25. IIT Delhi, which is also a top institute, has reported 416 seats vacant in 2024-25 while the previous two years had 438 and then 376.

Both IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi have close to 800 MTech seats available each.

THE ROLE OF DROPOUTS AND FEES FOR ALLOCATED SEATS

Student withdrawal during the MTech programmes is another reason for unfilled seats. The absence of centralised Mtech programme counselling allows students to select courses that suit them, but this can result in higher dropout figures.

An instructor at IIT Delhi noticed that after getting admission offers from IITs, some students later decide to go to private universities or foreign institutions, while others quit employment with public sector undertakings (PSUs) because they have accepted offers from these organisations.

IITs, like their NIT equivalents, impose a seat allocation fee (SAF) before counselling to discourage frivolous admissions. This practice is mired in controversy, however, because it has led to instances such as a legal battle centred around a Dalit student at IIT Dhanbad, who could not settle with the SAF on time.

There have been calls to abolish the fee entirely on the assumption that it creates unnecessary obstacles for students hoping to secure seats in the institution. On the other hand, it is claimed by the government that this fee ensures the reduction of dropouts and better management of vacant seats.