Calcutta University is set to raise the bar for postgraduate admissions this year with the introduction of entrance tests in all subjects threatening to pose a problem of plenty if eligibility stays at 40 per cent.

“Higher cut-off marks could be the only way to reduce the number of candidates for entrance tests to a reasonable level. Imagine the logistics involved in holding an entrance test for one lakh students,” said an official of the university’s examination department.

Vice-chancellor Suranjan Das said the university was yet to take a decision on cut-off marks but he did hint that 40 per cent in honours would no longer be worth an application for a post-graduate seat. “We may face problems in conducting the exams if we have to accommodate too many students,” he explained.

Entrance tests were also held last year, but only for a few subjects.

For any change in eligibility to take effect, the university needs to amend an age-old statute allowing any student who scores a minimum of 40 per cent in his/her honours papers in BA, BSc or BCom to apply for postgraduate admission.

Sources said the new eligibility norms could vary for different subjects, depending on demand, availability of seats and the average scores of students who made the cut last year.

Calcutta University decided to hold entrance tests from this year on the basis of Calcutta High Court’s ruling on a petition by some students of St Xavier’s College, declared an autonomous institution in 2006.

The students had complained about being denied admission to post-graduate courses conducted by Calcutta University despite scoring higher in graduation than some students from affiliated colleges who were selected.

The court asked the university to treat students coming from all institutions equally.

Calcutta University used to reserve as many as 95 per cent of its postgraduate seats for students from affiliated colleges with applicants from colleges under other universities left to vie for the remaining five per cent.

Sources said the authorities were wary of being saddled with up to one lakh candidates for post-graduate seats if the eligibility criteria wasn’t raised by more than a few notches above 40 per cent.

“If we receive as many applications for each subject as we did until last year, organising the entrance tests will be like holding the graduation exams all over again. As it is, we are short of manpower,” revealed a teacher.

He said the university was already finding it tough to stick to the schedule for announcement of results of all undergraduate examinations because of a shortage of examiners.

“Students from colleges affiliated to all other universities in Bengal and outside will compete with their counterparts from Calcutta University for postgraduate seats from this year. It is going to be a big challenge holding entrance tests for everyone with the kind of manpower we have,” added an official of the examination department.

The manpower crunch is set to pinch the authorities even more because the postgraduate entrance tests, likely to be held in July, will coincide with the MA, MSc and MCom exams.