Nearly one-third of seats for undergraduate courses in colleges under the four main varsities in Kerala are lying vacant. As many as 82,230 seats out of the combined 2,22,201 degree seats (37%) in arts and science colleges under the Kerala, MG, Calicut, and Kannur Universities remain unoccupied even as the admission process has been winded up.

There are no takers for these seats, despite the authorities postponing the admission process several times. The most seats remaining vacant are in self-financing colleges – 58,065 (70 % of total vacant seats). This figure is set to rise further if one considers self-financing courses in aided colleges as well.

The highest number of vacant seats is reported from Calicut University, which also offers the maximum degree seats,- 39,873. Of this, 33,085 seats are in self-financing colleges. While 22310 seats are lying vacant in colleges under the MG University, the Kannur and Kerala varsities reported 10,546 and 9501 vacant seats, respectively.

The vacant seats in all streams, including B Sc, BA, and B Com, are higher this year when compared to the previous year. There is also a hike in the number of students pursuing studies abroad after completing Plus Two, each passing year. The Higher Education Council has appointed a committee headed by Kannur University Vice Chancellor Dr Gopinath Raveendran to study the trend.

The figures based on subject-wise classification and previous year comparison make the following trends clear:

47 % rise this year
While the fall in students joining undergraduate courses is evident in previous years as well, this time around, there is a substantial rise in seats lying vacant. A total of 43,328 seats across the four varsities remained unfilled last year. In 2021-22, 47,045 seats remained vacant in colleges under three varsities, other than Kannur. (Figures of Kannur unavailable).

Most vacancies in BSc
Every year, most vacancies in all the universities arise in BSc courses. This may be due to a sizeable number of Plus Two Science students opting for professional courses. While the number of BSc seats lying vacant in Kerala in 2021-22 was 1131, the same has risen to 3839 seats this year. Similarly, that in colleges under the MG, the varsity has increased to 11564 from 6544 seats.

Few takers for B Com as well
If 172 B Com seats were lying vacant in Kerala varsity two years ago, a total of 3031 seats have no takers this time. The MG varsity, though, didn’t report this much rise in vacant seats. There are 2713 vacant seats this year instead of 2027 a couple of years back.

The commerce students are enjoying increased study opportunities in areas like Chartered Accountancy (CA), Cost Accountancy, and Company Secretaryship (CS). There are many who, while pursuing these courses, also do B Com from a private college.