Karnataka: Management quota engineering seats to be filled via KEA counselling

The Karnataka government has mandated that management quota seats in engineering programmes at private and deemed universities be filled through the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) if surrendered by the institutions. An order issued by the state government stipulates that universities wishing to surrender these seats must do so within 15 days of the commencement of the first round of Common Entrance Test (CET) counselling.

KEA has already begun the CET counselling process for the 2026-27 academic year for professional courses, including engineering. The provisional results of the first round of seat allocation have been announced. There are 28 private and 11 deemed universities in the state, offering a combined total of 37,690 engineering seats in private universities and 2,400 in deemed universities.

Currently, KEA fills government quota seats in all engineering colleges through CET counselling. Under a consensual agreement with the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association (KUPECA), 45% of seats are allocated to the government. The remaining seats are distributed as follows: 30% through the national COMED-K entrance exam, 15% as Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota, and 10% as management quota. For colleges under the Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Professional Colleges Association (KRLMPCA) and the Association of Minority Professional Colleges in Karnataka (AMPCK), the distribution is 40% government quota, 30% through separate entrance tests, 20% NRI quota, and 10% management quota. Among private universities, 40% of seats are reserved for the government quota, with the rest as management seats. Deemed universities have no government quota; all seats are management quota, filled through their own entrance tests or JEE ranks.

This decision follows a trend where private colleges surrendered thousands of seats to KEA last year after the first round of counselling failed to fill them. In 2025, COMED-K surrendered about 18,000 seats to KEA. The state government also implemented the Prof. S. Sadagopan Committee report to streamline engineering education, imposing a seat cap on all private colleges. However, sources indicate that some private and deemed universities, taking advantage of the recent change in government, have obtained No Objection Certificates (NOC) for seat enhancement in Computer Science Engineering (CSE) and related courses, contrary to the government order.

H. Prasanna, Executive Director of KEA, confirmed that the counselling process is ongoing and that surrendered management quota seats will be filled through KEA. Regarding fees, the government has fixed the tuition fee for government quota engineering seats at ₹88,000 for the current academic year, with a 7.5% increase for private colleges. However, no consensual agreement has been signed for fee fixation in private and deemed universities. A letter has been sent to the government, which has issued an order in this regard.