Most first-year MBA students of IIM Calcutta, who had been set a deadline of April 18 to vacate the hostels, have already left the campus.

On April 5, the institute had set the deadline for the students of the two-year MBA programme to vacate the hostels since the final term exams — being held on digital platforms — would be over on April 17.

The students, who had been recalled last year so they could use the net facility on the campus, were supposed to write the exams online from April 15 to 17 from the hostels.

But most of them have vacated the hostels before time following a spike of Covid-19 cases, said an IIM-C official.

“Since the exams are being held online, it does not matter where they would be writing the exams from. If they decide to write the exams from home, it is their prerogative,” said an official, who is part of the Covid task force on the campus.

As many as 70 students have tested positive on the B-school campus till this week — a rise that prompted the chief administrative officer of the institute, Alok Chandra, to set the deadlines for vacating the hostels.

The students usually stay at the hostels for a period of 10 to15 days after the exams.

Students of the one-year MBA executive programme and the second-year students of the two-year MBA programme left the hostels on April 10 and 11 respectively, a day after completing their exams in consonance with the deadline.

According to the notice, the first-year students of the two-year MBA programme were to vacate the hostels by April 18 — a day after their exam got over. But many of the students did not take any chance.

According to sources, 90 per cent of the 450-odd students have already vacated the hostels.

Those who stayed back have serious connectivity issues at their place of residence. They will leave on April 18.

A professor said, many students feared that travel restrictions could be imposed any day and wanted to reach home as early as possible.

“Students come from states like Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka. Many feared what if travel restrictions were put in place as a preventive measure against the renewed surge in cases,” he said.

The infected students have been quarantined in a special facility.

Another official said since the students have vacated the hostels, the facilities would be sanitised before students return after the summer break in June.

Since the sanitisation process will take some time and those who are quarantined will take time to vacate the campus, the 15th batch of the one-year MBAEx programme will start their classes online from April 23.

“Although it is a residential programme, we cannot allow any one a stay on the campus now,” said an official.

The annual convocation of IIM-C will be held online on May 15 to discourage any assembly on the campus.