Bhubaneswar: To maximise seat enrolment and minimise structural vacancies across higher education sectors, the Odisha government has allowed private technical and professional institutions to fill seats remaining vacant after the final round of Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) counselling for the 2026–27 academic session through institute-level admissions.
The Skill Development and Technical Education Department stressed that the college-level admission process must be conducted strictly on the basis of merit.
In an order issued on Saturday, the department stated that the relaxation applies to vacant seats across undergraduate, postgraduate and lateral-entry programmes offered by private technical and professional colleges in the state. The entire institute-level admission exercise must be completed by August 14, after which the relevant portal will close and no further applications will be entertained.
Eligible candidates include those holding valid ranks in OJEE or other approved national-level common entrance examinations.
The department specified that the eligible pool includes students who did not register or participate in previous OJEE web-counselling rounds, applicants who withdrew during earlier stages, candidates who were not allotted any seat or whose allotment could not be confirmed, candidates who received a final seat allotment but failed to report to the designated institution, and students who initially completed reporting formalities but subsequently withdrew after obtaining a transfer certificate.
Private institutions have been directed to counsel rank holders of examinations relevant to their respective course streams. These accepted national and state-level tests include JEE Main for engineering, OJEE, GATE and GPAT for master’s programs in engineering and pharmacy, CAT, MAT, XAT, ATMA, and CMAT for management programs, NIMCET for computer applications, and NATA for architecture.
Admissions must be processed purely on merit, and colleges are required to submit details of all eligible candidates who report for admission to the OJEE Committee. The government has also permitted these institutions to admit students from outside Odisha up to a maximum of 30 per cent of their sanctioned strength in each discipline. Vacant Economically Weaker Section (EWS) seats, however, cannot be diverted to the general category; such seats will instead be carried forward and filled through lateral entry in the subsequent academic year in accordance with the prevailing reservation norms.
OJEE Chairman D P Satpathy indicated that the precise number of vacancies remaining after the final round of admissions would be notified within the next two to three days.
According to information available on the official OJEE portal (ojee.nic.in), counselling for technical and professional courses commenced in June 2026, with multiple rounds of allotment, online reporting and physical reporting at allotted institutions continuing into early August. The process covered a wide range of programmes, including BTech (including lateral entry), MBA, MCA, MTech and related courses offered across more than 90 participating institutions with a total intake exceeding 55,000 seats.
Circulars issued by the OJEE Committee had already informed colleges that seats left unfilled after the final reporting deadline would become available for institute-level filling.
This year’s arrangement follows a similar pattern adopted in previous years, enabling private colleges to utilise remaining capacity while maintaining transparency and merit-based selection under the oversight of the OJEE Committee. Candidates interested in these seats are advised to approach the respective institutions promptly and monitor official updates on the OJEE website for vacancy details.