Kerala seeks extension of AICTE deadline for engineering admissions

The Higher Education department in Kerala is learnt to have requested the Union Ministry of Education to extend the deadline for the engineering admissions process in the State, against the backdrop of concerns raised by a section of aspirants about seats remaining vacant in government engineering colleges and objections to the ongoing decentralised spot admissions process to fill them.

August 14 is the deadline set by the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to end the engineering admissions process across the country. Some other States have also requested the Centre to extend the admission deadline, citing issues such as examination irregularities, floods and reported deficiencies in the Central Board of Secondary Education’s evaluation process.

Sources in the office of Roji M. John, Higher Education Minister, told The Hindu on Tuesday (August 11, 2026) that if the deadline is extended, more rounds of allotment could be held to ensure that no seats remain vacant in government engineering colleges.

This year, the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations conducted three rounds of allotment for B.Tech admissions. However, a section of students, who do not wish to be quoted, say there were no significant changes in the first two allotments. One of the major reasons for this was that the KEAM allotment process was conducted simultaneously with national-level admission processes such as those of the Joint Seat Allocation Authority and the Central Seat Allocation Board.

As a result, many students reportedly did not see any meaningful change in their preferred options in the initial allotments. Although there were some changes in the third allotment, only limited opportunities were available to the students. A parent from Kozhikode points out that conducting a fourth round of allotment would have been reasonable. It could have helped those who would have become eligible for seats that fell vacant due to withdrawals and changes following national-level counselling processes. However, it was not done, he says.

In the past 10 years, a centralised spot admissions (CAP) process used to be held at the Government Engineering College, Thrissur, to fill vacant seats. This ensured that almost all seats in government engineering colleges were filled. This year, however, the government engineering colleges in the State were allowed to conduct separate sessions. The spot admissions were held at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, on August 11. The process is scheduled to be held at seven other colleges on August 13 and August 14.

The parents say that students may get to understand details about seat vacancies only after attending the process at a particular college. Even if seats remain vacant in other colleges, they may not be able to join there. Many students who have already secured admission in self-financing colleges by paying higher fees may not get an opportunity to shift to government engineering colleges. The AICTE’s deadline could further restrict the opportunity for students who fail to secure medical admissions as well, they say.

SFI opposes decentralised spot admissions

Meanwhile, functionaries of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) claim that the decentralised process will only help self-financing engineering colleges. The schedule for the process was also announced in a hurry. Students from poor families will not be able to claim the vacant seats in government colleges.

They also claim that self-financing college managements were not providing no-objection certificates to their students to join the process.