The results of the Bengal joint entrance examination will be published on August 7, education minister Partha Chatterjee announced on Saturday.

About 88,000 students had written the exam for admission to engineering colleges on February 2 as the JEE board had advanced exams by two months so that colleges had more time to fill their seats.

The board is likely to announce on Monday the sites where the results can be tracked. The schedule for online counselling is likely to be announced on the day of the results.

Private engineering colleges set aside 10 per cent of the seats for students who crack JEE-Main. These students, too, take part in the online counselling. But this year JEE-Main has been pushed back to September.

The JEE board is likely to hold counselling for these students separately, said a board official.

The number of applicants this year has come down to 89,000 from 1,13,912 last year, a sharp drop that academics attributed to waning interest in engineering courses.