State-aided Behala College has requested permission from Calcutta University to conduct its own postgraduate admissions this year, following the UGC’s approval of its autonomous status.
Principal Sharmila Mitra wrote to university registrar Debasis Das on July 4, outlining the college’s plans for independent postgraduate admissions. The letter came two days after the University Grants Commission (UGC) informed the university that it had decided to grant autonomous status to the college.
“Since the UG admission is already under process through the centralised admission portal, we feel we will not be able to break the process,” Mitra wrote. “But we are interested in introducing the autonomous process for our postgraduate admissions, which start in August.”
The autonomous status will enable Behala College to introduce new master’s-level courses, as recommended by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). The college earned an A++ grade from NAAC in March 2023, joining only three other colleges in Bengal with this distinction.
“This year, we have plans to introduce postgraduate courses in physics and journalism,” Mitra told The Telegraph. “If Calcutta University completes the formality of issuing a notification announcing that Behala College has been granted autonomy and is free to run postgraduate courses on its own, we can start the exercise.”
The UGC has given the university 30 days from July 2 to issue the required notification regarding its autonomous status. With this deadline expiring in July and postgraduate admissions beginning in
August, college officials moved quickly to formalise their request.
“This year, it is already too late for us to hold the undergraduate admissions independently,” said a college official. “The postgraduate admissions have yet to
start, and we are focusing on starting an independent admission process at the
master’s level.”
One key advantage of independent postgraduate admissions would be the timely commencement of classes. Under the current Calcutta University system, postgraduate classes have consistently started late.
“In the CU-run postgraduate admission programme, classes start much later than the scheduled time. We can avoid this by introducing an autonomous process for our postgraduate admissions,” Mitra explained.
The delays stem from the university’s struggle to conduct admission tests for students from other universities, who compete for 20 per cent of postgraduate seats reserved for external candidates. While home students gain admission based on undergraduate performance, the university must screen external applicants through separate tests.
In 2023, postgraduate classes were scheduled to begin on October 3 but didn’t start until November due to delayed admission tests. Similar delays occurred in 2022.
“If we are permitted to start our own postgraduate courses, we will hold our admission tests on time to accommodate students coming from other universities, and classes will be started without any delay,” Mitra said.
Calcutta University’s officiating vice-chancellor Santa Datta Dey confirmed receiving the college’s letter and said the request would be discussed in the upcoming syndicate meeting.
