The new admission procedure of Presidency College will ensure a level-playing field for students from various boards, the authorities have claimed.

The college has scrapped entrance tests for undergraduate courses in six departments, deciding to admit students on the basis of their Class XII marks.

The authorities said the new system would be unbiased, allaying fears that it would benefit CBSE and ISC candidates at the cost of those studying under the Bengal board.

It’s often perceived that the Bengal board follows a conservative marking standard compared to the CBSE and ISC boards.

“We are working on the modalities to select the most deserving candidates,” said Presidency principal Sanjib Ghosh.

The six departments that will admit students on the basis of their school-leaving marks in the 2008-09 academic year are mathematics, statistics, philosophy, Bengali, geology and sociology. “We will evaluate the outcome and decide on our course of action,” said Ghosh.

A section of teachers is pressing for the abolition of admission tests, introduced in 1971, in all 17 departments.

A major concern with the new system is its reliance on the board exam marks.

“CBSE and ISC are more liberal compared to the Higher Secondary council in awarding marks. So, there is a chance of state students losing out to those from the CBSE and ISC boards,” said a senior teacher who is opposed to the abolition of admission tests.

The authorities, however, clarified that the new system will have separate cut-off marks for candidates from various boards. There will also be subject-specific parameters for the courses.

“For example, a student who wants to study mathematics honours will have to score a certain percentage of marks in both mathematics and physics,” explained a teacher.

A section of students from the union, Independents’ Consolidation, submitted a memorandum to the authorities, protesting the move to scrap the admission test.

“The test is a scientific way of selecting students. We will oppose the new system,” said an Independent Consolidation member.

But the college authorities said the new system had been thought of keeping in mind the students’ interests.

“We have lost some brilliant students to St Xavier’s College and Jadavpur University in subjects like mathematics and statistics, as they did not want to take the trouble of writing admission tests,” said a senior Presidency teacher.

As for Bengali, the authorities claimed the admission test was of no use as students from ISC and CBSE hardly studied the subject.

Philosophy, argued the authorities, does not have enough applicants in the first place.