Bengal Minister Launches Centralised Admission Portal for UG Courses

PTI, June 17, 2025, Kolkata : West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu on Tuesday launched the centralised admission portal for enrolment in higher educational institutions for undergraduate courses.

The higher secondary examination results of the state board were published on May 7. Altogether, 460 state-run and state-aided colleges under 17 universities will be included in the portal, and students can apply through it from 10 AM on June 18, Basu said. The last day of the first phase will be on July 1.

A student can make a maximum of 25 choices, priority-wise, for college and subject categories and can change both institute and subject till July 1, a senior education department official said.

Basu said if the required number of seats is not filled up in a college chosen by a student, he might get a second chance for enrollment in the same institution.

"We wish to keep the entire process simple, transparent, and seamless," the minister said.

A newly launched chatbot, 'Veena,' will assist candidates in filling up the details. "We have named it 'Veena,' symbolising the instrument of art associated with the Goddess of Learning, Saraswati," Basu told reporters.

Students will be intimated about the process of admission individually through mail and SMS.

Basu said that in the year 2024-25, an estimated 4,44,190 students got admitted to 461 colleges in 16 universities, and he hoped the number would be equally encouraging this year.

Asked if the OBC issues being heard in the Supreme Court will have any bearing on the admission system, Basu said, "The present arrangement has been made in accordance with court directives. Hence, that will not be a problem."

"We had introduced the online admission portal last year for total transparency in the system and to avoid any allegation or role of a third party in the entire process. We will continue with the system," Basu said.

Previously, there had been allegations of irregularities in the admission procedure and reports of the involvement of third parties, including student leaders, depriving many deserving candidates.

Basu said autonomous colleges, minority higher educational institutions, and Jadavpur University and Presidency University will not be under the purview of the centralised admission portal.