Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) is headed for another spell of unrest over the possibility of students losing the jobs they were offered during campus interviews because of delayed examinations.

Trouble on the campus in March, and the resultant loss of academic hours, has been cited as the reason for the postponement of the end-of-semester examinations. Examinations were to be held from May 27 to June 7 but will now start on June 5 and end on June 12. Students say even this short delay might jeopardise their careers.

Fourth-year metallurgy student Shyamasish Das, who has job offers from Ernst & Young and Vedanta Resources, must join either company in July. “Companies that have recruited us will not wait for us indefinitely,” he said.

Maruti and Indian Oil have set early joining dates, while Tata Consultancy Services and IBM have given their recruits time till August and September.

After writing the examinations, students have to appear for viva-voce and undergo vocational training.

Priyanka Pal, who has an offer from Indian Oil, said: “The company will finalise our joining dates and place us only after our semester results are announced. If examinations are postponed, we will lose our jobs to students from institutions that have finished holding examinations.”

Teachers at Besu are holding extra classes to make up for the loss of academic days. Most of them have been taking classes beyond the stipulated 5pm and are said to be willing to work with the students on Saturdays and Sundays, too. “But the administration is unwilling to cooperate. The registrar, Biman Bandopadhyay, said it would be difficult to keep the university open on holidays,” a senior teacher said.

The new examination dates were notified by the office of the dean of studies, Manju Haldar, but the registrar, who is on a visit to New Delhi, said the decision on final semester exams “will be taken by the vice-chancellor”.

The teachers’ union convened a meeting of the heads of departments on Tuesday and decided to pressure the university management to stick to the original schedule. “Any decision on examinations will have to be endorsed by the academic council. No unilateral decision can be taken,” N.R. Bandopadhyay, the president of the union, said.

For those who took the entrance examination for M.Tech courses, counselling sessions will be held from May 16 to June 10.

Madhumanti Bhattacharya, who is due to appear for a counselling session on May 16 for admission to IIT Kanpur, May 20-21 for IIT Powai and May 29 for IIT Kharagpur, said: “Normally we inform our heads about the counselling dates and the exam timetable is prepared accordingly so that the dates don’t clash. Examinations need not be postponed for counselling,” she said.