The proposed site for West Bengal State University off Barasat-Barrackpore Road. Picture by Pranab Biswas

A cluster of 57 colleges on the northern fringes of the city will this year make the switch from Calcutta University to one that has no campus, no vice-chancellor, no administrative team; not even a temporary office.

Supposed to lessen Calcutta University’s burden, West Bengal State University (WBSU) of North 24-Parganas came into existence through a gazette notification in February, though there has been little movement since to make the transition possible by the time the admission race starts.

The colleges that are to be affiliated to the university are jittery about the prospect of losing the cream of the undergraduate crop this academic session because of the uncertainty. Results of all Class XII board examinations will be declared in less than a month and principals of some of the colleges caught in the muddle believe good students would be disinclined to join their institutions.

BD Government College in Salt Lake, Motijheel College in Dum Dum, Barasat Government College, Rashtraguru Surendranath College, Taki Government College and APC College are some of the institutions that will not function under Calcutta University any longer.

“We fear losing out on meritorious students this year because they would rather study in colleges affiliated to a brand like Calcutta University than a new one that has not become operational yet. The impasse has confused students and their parents and guardians,” the principal of one of the colleges said.

The 57 colleges take in about 50,000 students each year for undergraduate arts, science and commerce courses.

The principal of Rashtraguru Surendranath College in Barrackpore, Ajay Mukherjee, said the government had not informed him or the heads of the other institutions about how and when the new university would function.

“We have only seen the gazette notification, which states that the new university in North 24-Parganas will start functioning in 2008. We do not have any more official information.”

The government has, however, already announced that students taking admission in these 57 colleges for the new academic session, beginning July, will be registered under the WBSU.

The permanent WBSU campus is to be set up on 100 acres near Barasat-Barrackpore Road. A 25-acre plot at the same site has been selected for temporary infrastructure.