Empty capacity in universities reached 450,000 seats
After holding the national entrance exam and the associate to bachelor’s degree exam, as well as the new system and technical vocational associate exams, part of the student admission capacity in various fields remained vacant. Therefore, in its thirty-seventh session on January 8, 2024, the Student Assessment and Admission Council decided to implement a supplementary admission phase for the remaining vacant capacities.
Following the 2024 national entrance exam and the announcement of final results, it was determined that 482,599 candidates were accepted into universities and higher education centers, as well as four fields of the Islamic Azad University. Out of this number, 189,840 candidates were admitted to exam-based fields, and 292,759 candidates were admitted based solely on academic records.
The admission capacity for the 2024 national entrance exam, which was previously announced, also shows that the admission capacity for exam-based fields was 177,192 people, and the admission capacity for non-exam fields based solely on academic records was 335,745 people.
According to the statistics of the 2024 national entrance exam, a total of 1,060,000 people were eligible to choose a field of study. Ultimately, more than 600,000 people chose exam-based fields, and 67,000 people who did not participate in the national entrance exam chose non-exam fields for 2024.
Examinations regarding the remaining vacant capacities in three models of national, associate to bachelor’s, and technical vocational associate admissions indicate that despite the 100-person capacities for various university fields and even technical vocational colleges, interest in continuing education in these fields is decreasing daily, while the entrance exam and high-demand fields in educational groups remain popular.