Students stand better chance to get seat into IIT of their choice

Admissions to IITs will depend on the Joint Entrance Examination-Advanced (JEE-Adv) scores of students, the results for which were declared on June 10.

Registration for admissions to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) ended on Monday evening.

Last year, five students were vying for each of the 11,279 seats in 23 IITs and the Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad. This year there are only three applicants for each seat.(HT PHOTO)

With 31,988 eligible candidates in the fray, as compared to 50,455 in 2017, aspirants this year have a better chance to secure a seat in the institute and course of their choice. The first round of seat allocation will be announced on June 27, at 10am.

Last year, five students were vying for each of the 11,279 seats in 23 IITs and the Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad. This year there are only three applicants for each seat.

“Since not a single question in the Join Entrance Examination-Advanced (JEE-Adv) was dropped this year, there was no bonus marks awarded to candidates. The eligibility criteria had to be decreased in order to make more students eligible for admissions, to avoid vacancy of seats at IITs,” a senior official from the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA), 2018 said.

This is the fourth year that JoSAA will be conducting admissions for IITs, National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and other Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs). “JoSAA will be conducting seven rounds of seat allocation to avoid vacancy of seats,” official added.

Last year, 121 seats were left vacant after seven rounds of counselling across 23 IITs, up from 96 the previous year. The number of vacant seats stood at 50 in 2015, while it was three in 2014.

Admissions to IITs will depend on the Joint Entrance Examination-Advanced (JEE-Adv) scores of students, the results for which were declared on June 10.

Initially, 18,138 students were eligible for admissions to IITs. But a request from the human resource development (HRD) ministry brought down the eligibility scores and ensured more students could apply to IITs.

The new minimum aggregate scores for eligibility to admissions to IITs were slotted at 90 out of 360 for the general category, 81 for OBC-Non Creamy Layer (NCL) and 45 each for SC and ST categories, ensuring that 31,988 (27,809 boys and 4,179 girls) students will compete for the seats.