West Bengal announces centralised admission process for undergraduate courses in state-run colleges

PTI, Kolkata, June 19, 2024 :  West Bengal's Education Minister Bratya Basu on Wednesday announced a centralised admission process for undergraduate courses in all state-run colleges.

    The admission process, which would be conducted through a common website, would begin on June 24, he said.

    This would negate the possibility of one student with good marks taking admission in multiple colleges at once, and then retaining his seat in the desired course and vacating the rest, Basu said, adding that because of this, a lot of seats remain empty every year.

    In the centralised process, one candidate will be offered only one seat at a time, depending on his results with the scope to get a better opportunity in case there is a vacancy elsewhere, he said.

    Any student from across the country, who had passed the class 12 final examination, can apply for 25 undergraduate courses maximum through the website, the minister said.

    The merit list will be system-generated, he said.

    Presidency University, Jadavpur University and some autonomous and minority colleges have been exempted from the system, he added.

    "We are launching the portal to provide students with an opportunity to choose their desired courses in chosen colleges via a single window system," Basu said.

    On the posts of teacher-in-charge lying vacant in many colleges, he said the process to fill them has started.

    At the press conference, Basu was also asked about Assam CM Himanta Biswas Sarma writing to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urging her to hand over the investigation into the death of IIT-Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed to CBI.

    He said, "I will inquire about this. I don't have all the information."