Jadavpur University will conduct independent counselling next month to fill 138 of its 1,253 BTech seats that have remained vacant after the centralised counselling, which was conducted by the state JEE board.
The electrical engineering department, one of the most coveted departments, and the mechanical engineering department account for the highest number of vacant seats — 18 each.
Calcutta University, too, will hold independent counselling next month as 68 of its 253 BTech seats have remained vacant after the completion of the centralised counselling.
The higher education department issued a notification on September 19 allowing colleges and universities offering four-year BTech courses to admit students through independent counselling because many seats have remained vacant after the end of the centralised counselling.
The “decentralised” counselling at JU will be held from October 4 to 7.
As for general category candidates, an information brochure issued by JU says that those with a WBJEE-2923 GMR (general merit rank) within 10,000 can take part in the counselling.
The university has been witnessing vacancies even in coveted streams over the past few years, suggesting that many top-rankers in the state JEE are opting for other institutes such as the IITs and NITs because they have better infrastructure and offer better opportunities, said an official associated with JU’s engineering and technology faculty.
“The opportunity of studying engineering at JU, where the fees are a fraction of what an IIT charges, is no longer a pull factor for bright students,” he said.
At JU, the annual tuition fee for an engineering student is Rs 2,400.
NIT Durgapur charged Rs 1.25 lakh and IIT Kharagpur, Rs 1.50 lakh.
This newspaper has published several reports over the past year on financial help extended to some JU departments by former students to buy new computers.
Till the help came, the departments were struggling with obsolete computers because the cash-strapped university did not have funds to replace them with new ones.
The alumni have been raising funds for the maintenance of JU’s laboratories as well because the state-aided university does not have any budget for laboratory upkeep.
“Until the infrastructure is improved, top students cannot be attracted,” said a JU teacher. “The vacancy figure is less this year compared to what was registered last year.”
Calcutta University on Thursday began inviting applications for the independent counselling. “We will start our counselling after the one at JU ends,” said an official at CU.