IIT Admissions 2017: Vacant Seats Number Rises Comparatively

IIT admissions have seen an increased number of vacant seats this year. Even after seven rounds of the admission process, there are 121 unfilled seats, a number that is higher than that of the past four years.

In total there are 23 IITs. All the colleges put together, there are a total of 10,962 seats. Out of this, 121 of them remained vacant after completion of the counselling for admission.

Previous years' vacancy numbers

• 96 in 2016
• 50 in 2015
• Three in 2014

IITs with vacant seats in 2017

• IIT-BHU, Varanasi - 32
• IIT-Dhanbad (Indian School of Mines) - 23
• IIT-Jammu - 13
• IIT-Kharagpur - 9

Last year's vacant IITs

Last year too, the trend was similar with IIT-Varanasi having the highest unfilled seats (38), and IIT-Dhanbad also having 23 vacancies in 2016.

Most sought IITs

Over the last four years, all seats were snapped up at IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Hyderabad. Joining them this year is IIT-Jodhpur which also does not have any unfilled seats. Last year, merely one seat was vacant at IIT Jodhpur. In 2017, a seat each is vacant at IIT-Bombay, IIT-Madras, IIT-Palakkad, IIT-Ropar and IIT-Goa.

Important dates for IIT admissions 2017

• This year, the last round of counselling was held on July 19
• All the IITs completed admissions by July 25

Removing of courses

An IIT Council official said the institutes had been asked to discontinue some of the courses that were not attracting students. The IIT Joint Admission Board is likely to meet soon to discuss such courses and take a decision on steps to bring down the number of vacancies.