No takers for degree courses

Over 2 L seats vacant, demand for courses like BA and B.Sc is continuously falling

Students are showing less interest in degree courses overall. Except for B.Com, demand for courses like BA and B.Sc is continuously falling. Many students prefer engineering, medicine and other job-oriented courses after intermediate due to better employment opportunities

metro india news  I hyderabad

The demand for degree education is steadily declining in Telangana as large numbers of seats remain unfilled across colleges. Despite multiple rounds of admissions, students are not showing enough interest in enrolling for degree courses. As a result, nearly lakhs of seats are going vacant every year, raising serious concerns in the higher education sector. The issue has now reached a stage where officials are considering cancelling courses in colleges that fail to attract admissions.

Across the state, there are a total of 967 government, gurukul, private and non-DOST (Degree Online Services Telangana) colleges with 4.38 lakh seats. In the DOST system alone, 826 colleges offer 3.77 lakh seats. Out of these, only 1,75,653 seats were filled in the 2025 academic year, leaving 2,01,347 seats vacant. In non-DOST and other colleges, out of around 36,000 seats, nearly 20,000 were filled, leaving about 15,000 seats still vacant. Overall, even the total filled seats do not cross 2 lakh, meaning around 2.42 lakh seats remain unfilled.

Over the years, the trend has remained similar. In 2024, out of 4,57,704 total seats, 2.12 lakh were filled and 2.45 lakh remained vacant. In 2023, out of 3.89 lakh seats, 2.05 lakh were filled and 1.84 lakh were vacant. In 2022, out of 3.86 lakh seats, 2.12 lakh were filled and 1.74 lakh remained vacant. In 2021, out of 4.68 lakh seats, 2.55 lakh were filled and 2.13 lakh remained vacant. Another 2022 data set shows 4.54 lakh seats, with 2.47 lakh filled and 2.07 lakh vacant. The situation is also visible in Social Welfare, Tribal Welfare and BC Welfare degree colleges, where seats are not getting filled completely.

Students are showing less interest in degree courses overall. Except for B.Com, demand for courses like BA and B.Sc is continuously falling. Many students prefer engineering, medicine and other job-oriented courses after intermediate due to better employment opportunities. This is considered one of the major reasons behind the declining admissions in degree colleges. Even though the Telangana Higher Education Council has been updating the syllabus as per market demand, it has not significantly improved admissions. Even after four to five phases of counselling, filling even two lakh seats is becoming difficult.

There are also 58 non-DOST colleges in the state, including 46 private and 12 aided institutions, with a total of 36,637 seats. These colleges fill seats independently instead of through the DOST system. Now, authorities are considering to conduct an entrance exam-based admission system instead of relying only on intermediate marks merit. This would allow counselling-based admissions through a test. For now, admissions will continue through DOST only. The DOST notification for the 2026 academic year will be released on April 13.