Karnataka's Unallotted Engineering Seats Rise Sharply

The number of unallotted engineering seats through Karnataka’s Undergraduate Common Entrance Test (UGCET) has risen sharply, with 26.35% of the total available seats meant for Engineering & Architecture going unclaimed this year, as compared to 18.12% of the total seats remaining free last year (2025). While industry veterans maintain an air of complacency about the drop in intake, it is apparent that those in government quarters are monitoring the phenomenon with significant caution. For context, as per data shared with TNIE by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), the total number of available Engineering & Architecture seats in 2025 was 85,020, out of which 15,403 remained unallotted. In 2026, out of 94,318 available seats, 24,856 were left vacant. “Before questioning why the number of unfilled seats has increased, one must also note that the number of engineering colleges has gone up every year. Compared to last year, at least 10 new engineering colleges have been added [in the state] this year. Naturally, the number of seats has also increased. That is why the [number of] unfilled seats appears higher,” claimed Dr. S Vidyashankar, vice-chancellor at the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU). Dr. Vidyashankar also told TNIE that “the claim that students are turning away from engineering is false. In fact, the overall number of students entering higher education itself has declined.” However, the vice-chancellor’s claim is undermined by the fact that even if one considers that simply the influx of new colleges (and thereby new seats) has led to a concurrent inflation in vacancy, the hypothesis falls flat when one realises that despite the lower number of seats in circulation last year, more seats were claimed in 2025 than 2026. Out of 85,020 available seats last year, 69,617 were claimed; on the other hand, while the number of available seats in 2026 witnessed an inflation to 94,318, the number of allotted seats in fact deflated to 69,462. In essence, when 9,298 seats were added to circulation, 155 fewer students chose to claim the seats this year.