Tuesday, Oct 20, 2026

Students shun government degree colleges in Telangana

For the first time, Telangana’s premier institutions like Nizam College have reported hundreds of vacant seats after DOST 2025 counselling. Over 2.08 lakh seats remain unfilled across the State, prompting TGCHE to announce spot admissions on September 15 and 16.

By Yuvraj Akula

Published Date - 12 September 2025, 03:45 PM

Students shun government degree colleges in Telangana

Hyderabad: Degree seats in Nizam College, the most-sought after institution for undergraduate education, are traditionally filled in the Degree Online Services Telangana (DOST) first or second phase counselling itself. This year, however, it is a different story.

For the first time in recent past, more than 200 seats in the Nizam College have been left vacant after all rounds of the DOST 2025 counselling.

Not just the Nizam College, hundreds of seats in the top government degree colleges and university colleges in Hyderabad went abegging this year. Indira Priyadarshini Govt. Degree College for Women (Autonomous), Nampally, has nearly 500 seats vacant, while

Government Degree College for Women, Begumpet, and Osmania University College of Science, Saifabad have 267 and 265 vacant seats respectively.

This year, nearly 3,000 in the top 12 government degree colleges had no takers, which otherwise used to sell like hot cakes. Overall, nearly 35,000 seats went vacant in government and university-run degree colleges across the State.

“All seats in top colleges have been allotted to candidates in the first and second phases itself. However, the candidates did not join them. Maybe they have changed their preference and opted for engineering programmes,” said TGCHE Chairman and DOST 2025 convener, Prof. V Balakista Reddy.

The situation of the welfare residential degree colleges is much worse than the government degree colleges. These colleges reported vacant seats of 12,357, which is more than that of the number of seats filled. Overall, 830-degree colleges with an intake of 3,77,907 reported 2,08,895 seat vacancies.

The large number of vacancies has prompted the TGCHE to hold spot admissions, including for the government-run degree colleges for the first time.

Spot admissions in all government degree colleges and private aided colleges are scheduled for September 15 and 16.

Vacancies in top degree colleges