West Bengal Centralised Admission Portal - Over 5 Lakh Seats Vacant After First Round

The second round of centralised undergraduate admissions is set to commence with over 5 lakh vacant seats. Despite a total of approximately 9.47 lakh seats available in colleges and universities across the state, only 4,03,034 students have enrolled in the first round. While the higher education department expects this number to increase slightly to around 4.5 lahk after physical verification in August, the significant vacancy of around 1.25 lakh general category seats in the first round has raised concerns. To address this issue, the department has initiated various measures. These include reaching out to potential students through teachers, mentors, and college principals.

The physical verification round for the first round admissions will run from July 31 to August 6. This phase aims to increase the enrollment rate by facilitating better access and communication with prospective students.

A breakdown of the data from the first round reveals that around 27% of the total seats, or approximately 1.25 lakh, are vacant in the unreserved category. While around 73% of the seats are reserved, approximately 1.76 lakh students who applied through the centralized online portal have either not paid the fees or did not get their preferred college. To address these issues, the department has initiated a comprehensive outreach program to connect with these students. Preliminary findings suggest that around 5% of these students have already secured admissions to other institutions.

Among the 5,27,000 students yet to enroll, the state is actively working to ensure they secure admissions. To enhance the enrollment rate, the department is gathering data on the higher education choices of students who passed their higher secondary examinations from state-run, state-aided, CBSE, and ICSE schools.

As the second round of centralised admissions is set to begin, the state remains hopeful that these efforts will significantly boost the number of enrolled students, ensuring that more young learners can continue their higher education journey without hindrance.