Over 53% of seats in West Bengal’s colleges and universities remain vacant despite the introduction of a centralised undergraduate admission process by the Higher Education Department this year. The final phase of the centralised verification and mop-up round was concluded on September 7, 2024. As a result, many institutions have now reverted to the traditional method of filling vacant seats through their individual portals.
This year marked the first attempt by the state government to implement centralised undergraduate admissions across colleges and universities. Despite two phases of admissions, 53.14% of seats remained unfilled. However, according to the state's Higher Education Department, the vacancy rate has slightly decreased compared to the previous year.
Out of a total of 9,47,786 undergraduate seats available in the state, only 4,44,076 students successfully enrolled in colleges after the centralized process. Many educators believe that the delay in initiating the centralized system led students to seek alternatives, including enrolling in private institutions. Additionally, the results of various national and state-level entrance exams prompted many students to choose other academic opportunities.
16 universities and 461 colleges/HEIs (Higher Education Institutes) participated in the centralised admission process, offering 7,239 courses. While 5,77,711 students completed the registration process, only 4,75,017 were selected for admission. By the end of the process, 30,941 students did not complete in-person verification, contributing to the 6.52% gap in enrollments.
As colleges now aim to fill the remaining vacancies through their internal systems, the focus will be on improving the efficiency of the admission process for the next academic year.
The centralised admission process has been designed to streamline the admission process and ensure transparency. However, the significant number of vacant seats in the first as well as the second round underscores the need for further outreach and awareness campaigns to encourage more students to pursue higher education.