Over 45,000 Engineering Seats Likely to Remain Vacant Despite Record TNEA

Chennai:The Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA-2025) began with a record 3.02 lakh registrations, but more than 45,000 engineering seats under the state’s single-window system are still expected to go unfilled this year.

The Directorate of Technical Education (DoTE) released the tentative allotment list for the third and final round of counselling on Sunday, revealing significant vacancies across institutions.

According to officials, 28,896 general category students secured provisional allotments in the first round, while 62,289 students— including government school students benefiting from the 7.5% horizontal reservation—were allotted seats in the second. The final round saw 64,629 students receiving tentative allocations after supplementary counselling, TNEA in-charge T. Purushothaman said.

This brings the total number of seats allotted this year to around 1.55 lakh.

Officials pointed out that the Higher Education Department had increased sanctioned seats in 2025 to over 2.02 lakh for Anna University and its affiliated colleges, up from 1.80 lakh last year. However, despite the larger capacity and record registrations, final allotment figures indicate that student demand has not kept pace.

The final admission count will only be known after supplementary counselling for those who passed the Class 12 supplementary examinations held between June and August 26.

While the TNEA remains the principal admission route for government, government-aided, and self-financing engineering colleges affiliated with Anna University, officials acknowledge that filling all sanctioned seats remains a challenge—particularly in rural and lesser-known institutions.

Education experts have called for a reassessment of seat approvals to match actual demand, along with initiatives to make engineering courses—especially in high-growth, emerging fields—more appealing to prospective students.