The state education department has formally announced a centralised online admission system at the undergraduate level from the 2023-24 academic year.
The notification issued on Monday says the decision was taken “considering the need for uniformity, transparency in the admission system in all colleges/universities”.
Autonomous colleges; minority institutions; training colleges; law colleges; colleges/universities offering courses in fine arts and performing arts, crafts, dance and music; colleges offering engineering, pharmacy, nursing andmedical courses; and self-financing/private colleges “shall be out of the purview of the centralised admission system”.
An official in the department said Jadavpur and Presidency universities, too, have been kept out of the purview of the centralised online system as they conduct tests to screen students for admission to the undergraduate level.
Last week, the state cabinet had approved a proposal to start the centralised system.
In the previous system, a student often had to take admission in multiple colleges, a practice that left many institutions with vacant seats by the time the session started.
An official said the students who enrolled in multiple colleges also faced trouble in getting refunds after applying for cancellation of the admission.
“Whereas considering all the above and also considering the need of uniformity, transparency in the admission system in all colleges/universities… with an aim to provide opportunities to the students, to choose their desired course in the desired colleges via a single window platform and also to stop multiple admission by a single student in various colleges/universities so that a maximum number of seats can be filled up in all colleges/universities in every academic year, the state government has been considering for some time the need of designing a single web-based online portal,” says the notice signed by education secretary Manish Jain.
“Therefore, the competent authority in the state government has decided to use a centralised web-based online admission system for admission at undergraduate level… from the academic session 2023-2024.”
“The state government… may at its discretion keep any course or college/university out of the purview of this centralised admission portal,” the order says.
The portal will be maintained and operated by the West Bengal State Council of Higher Education.