- St Xavier’s College closed its undergraduate admissions on May 31
- St Xavier’s University closed its UG admissions on May 28
- Ramakrishna Mission Residential College (Autonomous), Narendrapur, will close its undergraduate admissions on June 8
- Scottish Church College will close its admission window on June 7
Private and autonomous colleges and universities have either stopped receiving the application forms or are about to close the exercise they had started since the publication of the Plus-II board results in early May.
Government-aided colleges and universities that admit students through the state-run centralised admission portal have yet to start the process.
The state cabinet on Monday finalised the composition of the OBC reservation that would be applicable in education and jobs.
Earlier this week, Bratya Basu told reporters: “We are not late in starting the admission portal. Last year we started the portal on June 19. This year we will start it before that. You don’t have to worry over the delay.”
On May 23, education minister Bratya Basu announced that the portal would be open by the end of May.
In May 2024, Calcutta High Court rejected the state government’s notification identifying certain communities as Other Backward Classes (OBC) in education and jobs. The state has challenged that order in the Supreme Court.
As the portal has yet to be launched, college principals are worried about seats remaining vacant.
Not to mention the concerns among tens of thousands of students who have not secured admission in private, autonomous and minority institutions that do not come under the ambit of the centralised college admission system.
Calcutta University and Jadavpur University, too, have not been able to start the admission process as the state government has yet to give a go-ahead.
“We are yet to start the admission process as the portal has not yet been opened. Some of us are wondering whether we should follow the earlier OBC reservation formula to open the admissions. I hope that the state government will give us a directive soon,” said Siuli Sarkar, the principal of Lady Brabourne College.
Manas Kabi, the principal of Asutosh College, said they were awaiting the launch
of the undergraduate portal. Kabi is also the secretary of All Bengal Principals’ Council.
Many principals said that it would be difficult to fill up seats if the state-run colleges and universities did not start the admission process immediately.
“The more we delay, the greater the chances that bright undergraduate aspirants would get themselves enrolled in private and autonomous colleges and universities. Last year, the undergraduate admissions started a month-and-a-half after the publication of the Plus-II board results. This was one of the reasons behind lakhs of seats remaining vacant in colleges and universities. This year, we are witnessing another delay,” said Sharmila Mitra, principal of Behala College.
The state government recently received a letter from the Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association, requesting it to begin undergraduate admissions immediately.
The university, which admits students through admission tests and is outside the ambit of the centralised portal, initially planned to publish an admission notice on its own. However, the university was asked not to proceed with the admissions, citing a lack of clarity on the OBC reservations by the state government.
Last week, the teachers’ association sent letters to the higher education department and the backward classes welfare department.
Admission to Calcutta University’s in-house undergraduate courses, such as music and nutrition, is also being held up.