Few takers for IITs’ preparatory course seats this year

Only 41 students got seats in the preparatory course this year, compared to 107 students last year and 158 in 2015

Getting into to an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is no longer as difficult as it once was.

In 2015, the IITs introduced a new category—Preparatory—at the start of their admission process to fill up seats from reserved categories that go vacant due to lack of eligible candidates. (File photo)

With every passing year, IITs find it even more difficult to find students, and, in the attempt to fill up vacant seats, the minimum qualification marks to make a student eligible for a seat in the one-year preparatory course stood at a mere 32 of 366 (8.74%) across categories.

What’s worse is despite such low qualifying scores, only 41 students got seats in the preparatory course this year, compared to 107 students last year and 158 in 2015.

“The original cut-off was lowered to accommodate students ready to invest a year in bettering scores. Only if they pass the exam do they get inducted in the BTech course from the next academic year,” said Dr Prem Bisht, organising chairman, Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA).

In 2015, the IITs introduced a new category—Preparatory—at the start of their admission process to fill up seats from reserved categories that go vacant due to lack of eligible candidates.

The preparatory candidates are first given grounding in acquiring conceptual understanding for a year and only after they pass an exam towards the end of the year are they allowed to pursue a degree from the institute.

“The low number is either because very few seats were left vacant in reserved categories, or that students have not managed to score the relaxed qualifying marks as well,” added Bisht.

While the IITs are doing everything in their capacity to ensure zero vacancy across all 23 institutes, it seems to be helping little this year.

“This is a clear indication that students are not running after IITs anymore. So instead of lowering eligibility criterion for candidates, IITs should focus on shutting courses or decreasing student intake in lesser famous faculties,” said a professor from IIT-Bombay.