Calcutta University has announced that a candidate will be admitted to the undergraduate honours programme for BA and BSc based on the marks of the best
four subjects and the marks obtained in the “subject/related subject” in the board
examinations.

The university announced the admission regulations days after a section of CU-affiliated colleges, such as Lady Brabourne and Gokhale, opposed the university’s proposal to admit undergraduate students solely based on an aggregate score calculated from the marks of the best four subjects in the board examinations.

Many principals said they want to admit students based on a combination of the best four subjects and a screening formula of their own, which includes factoring in the marks of the related subject, as this allows them to identify students who have the proficiency to pursue a particular subject.

A notification signed by the university’s registrar, Debasis Das, on Wednesday evening, stated that when an undergraduate aspirant has studied the subject or the related subject in the previous school leaving examinations, the marks obtained in the subject/related subject in the
board examinations will be considered.

“For the merit index calculation to determine the eligibility for admission to BA/BSc...., aggregate marks shall be calculated by adding marks in the top four subjects and marks obtained in the subject/related subject, which is opted as the major (honours) subject.....”, the regulation says.

The university has yet to announce anything on
BCom admission.

Lady Brabourne College principal Siuli Sarkar said while admitting students to physics, statistics and economics, the college, while considering the marks in the respective subjects at the Plus-II level, also takes into account the mathematics marks.

Then the college draws a merit index.

“We don’t have the scope of admitting students based on an admission test, so this pattern gives us a chance to identify a student who has proficiency in the subject,” said Sarkar.

Calcutta University proposed screening students solely based on the best of four in a meeting with the principals of the affiliating colleges last week.

The formula was proposed by the education department, apparently to ensure uniformity in eligibility across affiliated colleges.

A CU official said the education department was insisting on a uniform eligibility criterion in the hope of completing the admission process faster.

“It would not require a department to feed different eligibility criteria for individual colleges into the centralised admission portal, which takes time,” the official said.

Natasha Dasgupta, the principal of Vidyasagar College, said that as her college has “a demand for geography honours”, they double the weightage in geography scores at the plus-II level while drawing the merit index.

“If the weightage in geography is doubled while drawing the merit index, it will help those who want to pursue geography emerge at the top of the merit list even though the student failed to register the highest score at the Plus-II level in that subject” she said.