According to the dean of students, ISI, Bimal K Roy, “The decline in the number of candidates opting for various courses in ISI is not a good trend.” He added that over the last few years, the institute has been trying to give a chance to students of mediocre intelligence, but they have not been able to cope up with the syllabus.

“We cannot retain a student who fails in any paper. So the institute insists on the quality, and is very selective in admitting students,” said Atish Dasgupta, former professor of ISI.

The institute has no seat constraints and the number of candidates enrolled in any course depends on the number of students who qualify the entrance examination. But last year, only 214 students were admitted in various courses.

ISI has been organising various inter-school and inter-college quiz competitions to attract the best students. But it seems that the institute has not been successful in its endeavour.

The decline in the number is all the more worrisome as this trend is in contrast to the number of students appearing for the entrance examinations of other premier institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology. The number of candidates appearing in the IIT-JEE examination scheduled this year is 3,20,000, an increase of 70,000 students.