Calcutta University is assessing how many students are attending first-
year BTech classes to ascertain the number of vacant seats for which the university has to hold independent counselling.
The university is calling students to find out if they have discontinued the BTech programme at CU after being admitted through the centralised admission conducted by the JEE board.
The university in a notice on September 19 said it would hold counselling on its own
on September 30 to fill the 49 out of 414 four-year BTech seats that have remained vacant after the centralised counselling.
The secretary of the engineering and science faculty, Amit Roy, said the number of vacant seats was likely to increase as they had seen that some of the enrolled students were not attending classes.
“As for the 49 seats, we have confirmation that they have taken admission elsewhere. But there are some seats where students are not attending classes. We are calling them up or sending them emails asking whether they have discontinued the BTech programme at CU. If they confirm, then we will hold counselling against those seats, too,” said Roy.
The September 19 notice signed by the secretary says “Vacancy may increase at the table of counselling”.
The university started receiving online applications on September 19.
Applications were to be received till Tuesday (September 24).
The list of applicants will be published on September 26.
CU announced its counselling schedule days after Jadavpur University decided to conduct independent counselling from September 24 to 27 to fill 150 of its 1,253 BTech seats that did not have any takers after the centralised counselling, which was conducted by the state JEE board.
A CU official said since JU has announced independent counselling to fill its BTech seats, there is a chance that some of those enrolled will switch to JU as the university is considered to be the premier engineering institution in the state.
“This could trigger vacancy in our BTech seats. This is why we have said that vacancy may further increase,” said a CU official.
Six out of 40 seats at CU remained vacant in computer science, considered a coveted stream.
The university announced in May this year that 80 per cent of the 414 BTech seats have been reserved for candidates domiciled in Bengal in the hope that the domicile policy could stop the flight of the students, a problem which has been troubling the university over the past few years.
“But the trends show students may not necessarily be attracted to CU just because it costs less. Top students will head to institutes with better infrastructure and better placements,” said a CU official.
At CU a BTech student pays ₹5,472 in the first semester. The student pays ₹3,622 in each of the remaining seven semesters.
